Destiny Denied
by Sigmu
Summary: The Evil Queen was once faced with a choice: play the villain and suffer the consequences, or leave the world of fairytales and everything that she had once known forever. When she left the consequences affected the future generations in similar yet different ways. Warning: Yuri and mentions of Yaoi. Future Rapple! It will happen in the future.
1. She'll be fine!

A/n: Fair warning: I'm not that familiar with the Monster High franchise so please don't be too surprised when I appear to gloss over big chunks of the MH franchise… I don't really feel comfortable with putting in characters that I know nothing about in too great a detail.

This started out as a faint idea in my head and then _Cross-over-lover232_ helped me come up with some more concrete ideas (thank you for the input btw).

So the whole idea for this is; what if the Evil Queen wasn't so evil? What if she decided that she has _had it_ with the whole fairytale business and just left Snow White waiting to be poisoned in the woods and moved to the monster dimension where no one would think to look for her? And though some near misses where they were almost caught where Raven was visiting her auntie _Red's_ cabin with her mother at the same time that Snow White and her family had made a surprise visit to the area and through a series of unexpected events it was revealed that not only is the witch who was supposed to play the Evil Queen role still _alive_ , but that Raven also _exists_! And now everybody in Ever after is freaking out because they can't find them _anywhere_ and at least once or twice a year there is this big hubbabaloo over some "sighting" and it all goes crazy all over again.

I got a touch stuck on whether or not Briar should exist or not though… seeing (as far as it is to my understanding) that in cannon Briar only exists because her mother was woken up early by the Evil Queen and therefore that whole story got turned on it's head… so since in this fic the Evil Queen… isn't so evil (grouchy, irritated, mad scientist who probably swears right, left, and center just for the hell of it, but not evil) or interested in fairytales at all and therefore would have no interest in stealing one I considered using inspiration from the original _Grimm's Tales_ version (by the way, do not read original fairytales in all their dark, twisted glory at night, you will not be able to sleep afterwards… this is from personal experience) but I was also tempted to do a little foreboding "introspection" like have constant mentions of Sleeping Beauty here and there and like have Apple be all like; "But what about the fairytales of the future? What about Sleeping Beauty's need to be awoken by a prince in a hundred years or what happens to the fate of Sleeping Beauty's daughter when she is born?" and the like just to drive it home that without the Evil Queen's meddling… certain people would not be there…

So I flipped a coin (always handy to have around when you're making a decision).

Briar exists FYI but her whole role is completely different and you will see why later (I just wanted to explain why I decided to have her there -via a literal coin toss- when in cannon she would not have existed if the Evil Queen was actually a good guy).

Also more of the Headmaster secretly being Raven's grandfather because to me personally that has not gotten old yet and as long as it stays amusing I will use it with a gleeful grin and I don't care what other people think because I'm just too amused by it so there (I honestly laugh myself into a fit every single time, it's just too precious, I swear)!

I'm just amusing myself at this point really. All these possible alternate universes and scenarios really just make me burst out laughing because they're so absurd.

XXX

Raven Grimmbook did not know very much about the fairytale dimension that her birth father lived in, even less than she understood Wonderland and that was saying _a lot_ , and to be honest she was quite curious about the place to a certain extent… it was only natural after all, to want to know your roots, where your family history came from.

However she wasn't curious enough to ever try her hand at attending Ever After High, much to her family's immense relief, and to her own credit her mother had at least attempted not to cast the entire place in a completely negative, paranoid, and bitter tone, her grandmother filling in more positive stories about the culture and traditions of their family's home dimension had helped color many aspects in a more cheerful light, and her father's two merged kingdoms were wonderful places to spend the holidays with an atmosphere so unlike that of the monster dimension. The whole place seemed to almost _glitter_ to be perfectly honest and gave her feelings of sugary dreams and fancy white virginal lace, and according to Maddie, Raven's father's kingdoms, as much as a fairytale dream that they were already, were almost utterly dark in comparison to the glam of the Ever After kingdom and it's point of pride which was Ever After High. Maddie described to place to be as artificially sugary as Wonderland's special patented so-sweet-you'll-be-up-for-days cotton candy and everyone and everything looked like they had jumped directly out of a human child's storybook, with the school's strict codes to stick to conservative clothing that represented the student's ancestral themes (something Raven's mother darkly accused of being on the verge of being some sort of kinky fetish enabler whenever she was particularly down about the past) and requiring it's students to "act the part" of their predecessors whenever possible (brainwashing and child abuse Raven's mother would snarl while Raven's grandmother merely sighed and pointedly reminded her daughter that neither one of them had ever even attempted to act like their predecessors so it was just as well to take their wins and let the past, and the memory of a certain annoying princess's plans, die a pathetic and scandalized death).

The main issue that she had with attempting to find out about her ancestral origins from Ever After High lay with the whole "evil queen" destiny thing and recreating fairytale stories at the expense of her species. She understood that it was the culture of that dimension and that there was a great deal of honor to being a fairytale villain, and just because the story called for a bad end to the fake evildoer it did not necessarily mean that it would automatically lead to a bad life afterwards. Her childhood friend/person-her-mother-made-her-hang-out-with/partner in mild mischief (even though the witch's friend really itched for some actual crime), Faybelle seemed quite keen on following her mother's example as both the Evil Queen and Evil Fairy, very excited about it actually despite apparent grumblings from certain individuals that Raven hoped she'd never have to meet back in the fairytale dimension about how it was only a temporary arrangement until Raven and her mother could be located and dragged back.

And that was the main reason why Raven held no desire to be trained to become a fairytale character; Raven, who was half raised on Wonderland warrior values thanks to her mother's very good friends and allies the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat, was a big believer in consent in all aspects of life and from the vaguely hunted look that her mother and god-uncle Bane Bad Wolf could never quite suppress whenever the topic came up and the knowledge of the full story of their pasts coming to light… it just didn't sound like something that was worth the heartache if it all went south.

It did rankle, oh did it rankle, in a part of her that would forever be conditioned to be royalty, that she'd very likely be unable to inherit her parent's home kingdoms as herself, it itched that if she were to pursue the life of an Evil Queen then she'd have to turn her back on her father and his portion of the kingdom…

But most of all it was the fate of her grandmother's romantic relationship with her biological grandfather that never failed to cause Raven's heart to break painfully and her blood to run cold. Raven didn't know who her biological grandfather was, nor did she care, but the thought of anybody abandoning her with a loomed witchling growing in her womb just because she wasn't of proper maiden breeding stock, just as her grandfather had done to her grandmother, leaving her the moment he found out that Elenore Queen and his unborn daughter was more of a liability to his reputation, for her grandmother to raise a child all by herself out of necessity because the man she had loved willingly abandoned her was… like a harsh slap to the face! That's what it was! She didn't even hold any desire to find out what her mother verbally felt about it; if that familiar bitter scowl was anything to go by she wasn't at all pleased at her absent father either.

And also the whole "you are a witch and therefore you must be evil" thing was _soooo_ four or five centuries ago, completely medieval and utterly barbaric in such modern times.

And besides that, she liked who she was as she was right now! Why go around constantly being referred to as " **The Dreaded Evil Queen** " (capital, boldfaced letters and all) when she liked just being… well Raven. Raven who had parents who had conceived her on a drunken bet (as far as she had unfortunately overheard) and since they were more friends than romantic partners never married, her parents consisting of a genius mad-scientist mother with a pumpkin flavored caffeine addiction, a father who lived far away but always made the time to call her every day and visit as often as possible, a grandmother who was part of what seemed to be every witch or sorcery guild in Boo York, a foster sister who once reduced a full grown hydra to tears because it had once frightened Raven so bad that she accidentally turned everyone in the immediate vicinity's hair pink from a practice spell gone awry, and a whole bunch of foreign friends and unrelated uncles and aunties who had either taken her mother's example and fled the fairytale realms or were in on the wicked joke of this whole conspiracy and were more than happy to let things continue (the Evil Fairy and especially the Cheshire Cat more often than not creating false sightings whenever they were bored).

She was happy this way, her family was happy this way, and they all had wonderful lives just as they were.

And so what if they were almost caught by Snow White's men when Raven was eight? That whole complicated glitch in her mother's carefully crafted " _letting the fairytale bastards think that I'm dead_ " plan, and had apparently caused such an uproar that the area that they had last been seen while getting that scared little blonde girl out of that abandoned well was now some sort of tourist trap (Raven's mother had muttered some rather uncharitable things about Snow White's drama queen attitude being the real thing that they needed to sell tickets to see) but they had gotten away! And no one had chased them back here so it was all just fine!

The stories were over with, the fairytale royalty and the Headmaster couldn't technically make them do anything that they didn't want to anyway (but all the hiding out was mostly just so that they wouldn't have to be dealing with the annoyances that come with fanatic traditionalists hounding you relentlessly), and they had already technically banished themselves from the fairytale realms so… well really nothing much anybody could do about things now really.

And besides, who would find her and her mother's absence worth a care anyway after so much time had passed?

XXX

"Oh, phooey." Apple White pouted as she threw a manila folder into the trash. "Another dead end! How many false sightings can there possibly be?"

"Maybe they aren't even in any currently known fairytale world." Blondie suggested her sleuthing instincts kicking in. "I mean, my new roommate coming in a week or two is supposed to be the daughter of god from somewhere called Olympus. _I_ never even heard of the place before I got a letter from her asking if we could be pen pals until she arrives so we get to know a little more about each other, which is terribly sweet come to think of it, and very smart since now I feel like I practically know her already!"

Apple groaned in despair despite her friend's cheery attitude, flopping back down onto her bed dramatically.

"But if that's true then they could be anywhere!" The princess despaired. "I have to find her before it's too late! I don't know how the Evil Queen has managed to stay alive for this long, and that's assuming that she still exists right now, but surely the Evil Queen's daughter must still be alive! We're already well into high school, if she doesn't get the proper schooling then she can't become a proper villain, and if she can't do that then-…" Apple trails off, unwilling to voice her fears. "So many fairytale characters have disappeared, Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, The Witch from Hansel and Gretel, Pinocchio… all of them, just one day and they're all gone!"

"But what about Faybelle? She's your designated villain now after her mother, the Evil Fairy, swooped in to poison your mother after the Evil Queen disappeared." Blondie asked. "I mean if the Evil Queen was able to survive this long without disappearing then maybe-"

"I can't take that risk Blondie!" Apple shook her head in maidenly despair. "Faybelle's mother may have taken up the torch in an emergency but that does not make Faybelle my villain, the Evil Queen's daughter is destined to be my villain, and she and I were supposed to be best frienemies forever after, it just wouldn't be right if it's not the right villain! …And besides that there is no proof that the Evil Queen and her daughter aren't in danger, that we all aren't in danger, I mean just look at all those fairytale characters who disappeared without a trace!"

"What will you do if you find her?" Blondie asked morbidly curious. "That is if the Headmaster doesn't find her first."

"Save her of course!" Apple took a deep breath and nodded to herself. "I'll warn her, smuggle her back here if it comes to it, I could help her become who she was born to be."

"I managed to find her once." Apple sat up with determined vigor. "And that was at the bottom of an abandoned well in the woods! I can find her again, I know that I can!"

XXX

"MMMPH!" Raven complained into her bedding as someone attempted to shake her awake.

"C'mon _Ray-ven_ mama-witch wants us up early to tell us somethin'" Briar Grimmbook emphasized her words with attempting to yank away the covers from the teenaged witch, only being partially successful seeing as how Raven clung on even when she was pulled briefly upright before falling one her side to the opposite end of the bed.

"Lazy creature." The human teen accused.

"You sound like the Evil Fairy." Raven's voice was muffled due to her refusal of taking her face away from the warmth of the blankets.

"Evil-mother is often very wise about these things _lil' sis_." Briar pointed out.

The Evil Fairy kinda became Briar's second foster mother (the first being a combined effort between Raven's mother and the Hood-Wolf family) the moment the girl was born; apparently the virtuous Sleeping Beauty could not bear to stay virtuous for a hundred years, the result of her affair with a man that has still as of yet to be identified resulted in Briar, and since the spell used upon Sleeping Beauty and her family was designed to keep youthful life in it's victims, and not freeze them under suspended stasis… Briar sort of _kept growing_ inside Sleeping Beauty's womb.

It wouldn't have come to anyone's attention until much later that something was growing inside Sleeping Beauty if Raven's mother had not decided to hide out in the tower where the princess was being kept in an attempt to evade the people who were looking into _why_ the Evil Queen had yet to show up and poison the future Snow White and soon-to-be queen of Ever After. They were already searching high and low for Simone Hood, the girl who was supposed to play Red Riding Hood who had gone missing in the woods before the Big Bad Wolf could meet up with her (Raven's mother had become close friends with Simone while the two had been roommates for four years and like the witch Simone was hell bent on not becoming a fairytale character so when Raven's mother had discovered a place for them to run off to Simone, who had already had a strained relationship with her family and therefore had nothing to lose, asked to be spirited away somewhere along the trail to her grandmother's place so that everyone would assume that she just took a wrong turn and got lost forever or something).

Red Riding Hood wasn't the only character that had mysteriously gone missing, while Raven's mother had been on her way to Sleeping Beauty's tower Cherrie Breadhouse, the witch who was apart of the Hansel and Gretel story and who was a member of Raven's mother's secret coven back at school, had asked her fellow witch to help her… " _disappear_ " into the oven.

Cherrie, being the kind soul that she was and is, didn't have the heart to leave her counterparts without their story but she couldn't bear the thought of the witchling growing within her womb to be subjected to the same harsh treatment of being labeled both a villain and a cannibal (even though she did give her counterparts plenty of ways to escape; leaving the door open, having a map leading back to civilization tacked up to the privy, giving the two siblings equal amounts of healthily prepared foods, constantly "losing her glasses and _she just could not see a thing without her glasses_ ", leaving them alone with the door _wide open_ for long periods of time, making Hansel's cage out of a simple upside-down large box of cardboard with a large rectangular hole on one side and the words " _cheap prison that was on sale_ " written over the hole in magic marker, but to their credit the siblings were bound and determined not to let any of that deter them from their mission of being the "victims" of the dreaded cannibal) so a simple glamour spell for the illusion of fire (even though anybody with half a brain… a half that Gretel _obviously didn't have_ … could feel the _lack_ of heat coming from the oven) and a handy hole, leading to a tunnel, leading to an abandoned well that led to the outside world at the bottom of the big oven (the _small oven_ was where all the _real food_ was cooked), with a brief spell cast to seal the hole leading into the house back up with brick, and to everyone who had not bothered to look very closely (Gretel) the witch had been vaporized by the heat of the flames, never to be seen again.

So now caught in the dilemma of a princess's unplanned pregnancy the Evil Fairy and Raven's mother struck up a deal; nothing would be breathed to anybody on the topic of Sleeping Beauty's illegitimate child (which may complicate the willingness of the future prince that was required to awaken the girl and there was _no way_ that the fairy was going to wake the princess up and risk dishonoring her role as the villain) and a safe place far away from the fairytale realms would be provided as long as the Evil Fairy did not turn in Raven's mother (and later on the deal extended to other unrelated fairytale characters as well once the Evil Fairy became aware of them) and took up the role of Evil Queen in the witch's stead (which had been done with extreme enthusiasm and glee).

So the Evil Fairy left Raven's mother to watch over the progress of Sleeping Beauty's pregnancy, the fetus's development could _in theory_ progress to full term with nothing but the excess magic in the room to help progress it's development however that did not guarantee that the child born would not end up malnourished or with developmental defects due to absorbing magic that was _only_ meant to serve the purpose of keeping everybody in the tower asleep and youthful and _not_ to aid the proper development of a child, and then there was the matter of assisting the birth and then setting up a safe place to raise the child where _no one_ would think to stumble over it or the now _not-so-evil_ , Evil Queen.

It was decided at that juncture to bring in the Good King, a known ally to both women, to help ferry in supplies and food for Raven's mother as well as some company in the months of the third trimester (Raven didn't like to think about it too much- neither did Briar for that matter because she and her mother weren't far away at the time- but it was known that it was somewhere along that point where Raven had been conceived) and aiding the witch and the Evil Fairy during the birth.

As a result Raven and Briar were so much closer with each other than with the other fairytale refugee kids, since it was _Briar_ who mostly grew up in the Queen household and up until she had been old enough to fully understand everything Briar was under the impression that she had come out of her witchy-mama's tummy just like her baby sister Raven had, and even after she finally understood what the adults had been exasperatedly telling her all along (because it had been decided long ago that _nothing_ would be hidden from Briar and Raven) she was fiercely adamant that Raven was still her baby sister and that they had always shared a mother or two in a sense.

Their situation was complicated but it worked.

As if to underline the bleary thoughts on the subject Raven found herself reaching a hand out to grasp at the back of Briar's nightgown as the two padded softly with bare feet through the rooms of their penthouse apartment, just like the witch had always done ever since the two of them were teeny tiny, Briar never commented on it, not even when Maddie Hatter had stayed over and mirrored Raven's actions or when Kitty or Faybelle was there to witness and snicker at the scene before them, Raven never quite knew why Briar never shook her off like she'd expected the human to do after a certain point but she kept it up anyway, if just to have a reliable guide to the kitchen and bathroom in the mornings and to prevent dimly walking into the walls or their mother's home laboratory because she was still half-asleep.

Even so Raven still managed to unexpectedly bump herself into the counter where their family usually ate breakfast.

"Maybe you should try dipping her toes into ice water, always worked with you." Elenore Queen commented to her daughter while she eyed her granddaughter in amusement.

"Oh yeah because I so enjoyed jumping a mile off my bed and shrieking like a banshee first thing in the day." Clawstorm Grimmbook (aka Clawstorm Queen, aka the runaway Evil Queen-who-never-finished-the-story) who looked half asleep herself cast her mother a wintery glare over the rim of her pumpkin spice extra strong coffee to which the elder gleefully ignored.

"We're going to have a teenaged ankle-biter stayin' with us for three days an' two nights starting on Thursday. The kid's father has reached out to us because he needs to have her stay somewhere while I make arrangements with our Wonderlandian friends to get this baby chick over to her new school without anybody being the wiser about her coming from the Monster Realm, or that she is a monster herself." Clawstorm spoke with her usual pre-second cup of coffee irritated bluntness, getting right to the point even though there was the faintest hint of reproach in her tone when the school was mentioned.

"You remember Miss C.A. Cupid from summer camp don't you?" Elenore kindly asked her grandchildren whilst also giving her daughter an exasperated look, clearly thinking that the younger woman's explanation left much to be desired. Raven perked up, suddenly feeling wide-awake. "You keep in touch with her, or so I hear, at any rate your friend will be attending Ever After High, the shock of the unrest that your mother and her little band of rebels has finally caught up with people and now Eros senses a keen need for a creature born and trained in the ways of love magic to be stationed at the school, there appears to be a rather quiet but growing movement of youth and their parents who do not believe in the age-old lie that we would merely disappear like pathetic little wisps if we do not conform to exact scripting or the stories and are turning their backs on either traditional matchmaking or on fairytales all together."

" _But they can't know that she comes from here_." Clawstorm emphasized gravely, sounding more than a little bitter in the undertones. "Their stances on things that are either too different than what they'd like or things that they consider inherently bad are still very strong to the point where her life might be in danger if they ever found out she was part bone elemental or even if they knew about her growing up in this dimension at all."

"Her reputation as a warrior for love might be in danger but I hardly doubt that they'd try to kill her dear." Elenore held up a finger before her daughter could speak. "And I highly doubt that your old foe Snow White truly understood the full scope of how she treated you would impact our family's standing with the other royal families or that it would harm the lives of others both under our kingdom's rule and those not under our rule, after all most villains who were not in the line of fire between you and her fixation on you made it out fairly well with their reputations and their respect intact if you will recall."

"I'm allowed to be jittery all I want mother, I was the one who was there when all this mess started after all." Clawstorm grouched, mournfully glaring down at the contents of her goblet with thinned lips and hooded eyes. "'M not saying that they're all bad, those fairytale types, but with so much politics and power struggles going on under the pretense of everything being just another day in a rich person's school it pays to be paranoid enough to leave them early before you get hurt, not go running in blindly with your arms out and all exposed for the flaming arrows."

Elenore merely shook her head at her daughter's doom and gloom theatrics. "Your friend will be _fine_." She emphasized to the wide-eyed children. "She's not a villain, nobody will be able to tell that she's part bone, and best of all she's the got the combined blood lineage of being both a god and a being of love, _they'll love_ her I can guarantee it."


	2. My love life is not that interesting!

"Hey Raven, are you going to say goodbye to your old girlfriend from grades eight and nine?" Cedar asked nonchalantly, not even looking up from her painting even as the witch in question startled and fumbled with the wooden practice sword she was posing with.

"P-pardon?" Raven asked.

"You remember Cupid, you and she dated at summer camp those two years near that place in Salem Oregon- by the way could you tilt that whatshisname up and to the left a bit? Anyway she's transferring to a new school and she'll be stopping by Boo York because your mom has a close "in" with the Wonderlandians and Cupid will have to go through Wonderland in order to get to her new school like ten times faster than any other way." Cedar paused mid brushstroke. "You do still keep in touch with her right?"

"Well yes." Raven shook her head. "And I am going to meet up with her, mom's letting her stay at the apartment for the two nights that it'll take to make all of the arrangements to get her safe passage through the place, but I'm more concerned with how you know about all of this before I told you about it, I personally just found out this morning that Chariclo was going to be staying here! Oh, and by the way; this "whats _her_ name" is known as a _pole arm_ , or a _naginata_ , my grandmother has one or two real ones in her collection down at the dojo." Raven explained her mind flashing images of the collection that her grandmother and several well-to-do independent older women maintained at their dojo in the city with the goal of teaching young girls the sometimes essential necessity of defending oneself through magic, weapons, and martial arts until the attacker was on the ground pleading for you to cease whacking him over the head with his own kidneys.

"Oh she and I keep in touch on _SkullBook_ and we _E-gore_ each other every once in a while." Cedar admitted as if it was nothing. "Why do you refer to her by her first name by the way?"

"Who taught you how to use social media?" Raven demanded while avoiding the last question, because _Cedar_ and _social media_ made just about as much sense as _fish_ and _rock climbing_.

"Briar said that every aspiring artist has to learn how to get her name out there through places like SkullBook and _shrieker_." Cedar blinked innocently.

"…Of course she did." Raven sighed. "Are all the rest of you acquainted with all of my ex-dalliances as well?"

"Ye- _you've_ had more than one?" Cedar redirected, while Cedar was more wood elemental than magic-golem-doll now due to a healthy helping of mad science and spell-object-material-manipulation to somewhat free her from any fairytale obligation by simply turning her into a common mild mannered monster Cedar still found it difficult to lie, though whether she just didn't want to based solely on her moral stance in life or she simply couldn't it was difficult to tell, however she was able to lie by omission or redirect the question asked of her with a question of her own (if Cedar hadn't been so inherently nice Raven often wondered if she would have become one of those intrusive mentalist or hypnotist types like what she often saw on TV, the girl was just that good at getting people to… well stop asking questions).

No one within their little group of fairytale refugees quite understood why the late Pinocchio had gone to such great lengths to find out where everyone had run off to and plead with the other refugees to help him and his wooden daughter move to Boo York and once he discovered that the runaway Evil Queen was a mad scientist who worked on things for the _betterment_ of the world, have Raven's mother do what she could to save Cedar from her curse. The man never citing exactly why he wanted _this_ so badly for his daughter when a fairytale could have done much better in making her into a real human girl, he just adamantly claimed that it was for the best that Cedar be given a different destiny altogether.

Raven blushed at Cedar's question. "I've had a few crushes since the eighth and ninth grades." The witch grumbled.

"But no dates." Cedar translated.

"I have tried asking some people out… they just didn't think that it would work out is all." Raven mumbled.

At that Cedar stopped painting. "Um, what? But I've seen you get like a dozen love letters a month ever since you started your band and you've always been considered one of the prettiest girls in school. If you don't mind me asking; why are you-?"

"I'm really picky? I'm attracted to people who don't like me back or where it just can't work? I really don't know aside from the fact that most of the people giving me those love letters either just want to date me because I'm in a school band or because my mom is sort of famous in the mad scientist world and I really just would like somebody who liked me for me and that I knew a little better than a first time meeting." Raven shook her head. "Chariclo says that it's good that I just don't go after the first attractive person I see and that it's probably a good thing that some of my previous crushes didn't work out into dates since I've got plenty of time to find the right person to be with and that it really isn't something I should despair over."

"Whom did you ask out?" Cedar blinked in confusion, because Raven rarely kept these kinds of secrets from her since Raven's mother had other ways of finding out about her daughter's personal life and aside from the big fairytale conspiracy Raven was pretty much an open book with very little secrets to share.

"Samantha Cromwell." Raven sighed.

Cedar's wooden eyes practically bugged out of her skull in shock. "You're band's rival, who really isn't your rival since you don't see her band as the enemy and that you tend to play different venues from her and always bribe Briar to not book you guys in a competition with them no matter how revved up things could get if it were known that your two bands would be battling and Briar's personal vendetta against her but Samantha still hasn't gotten it into her head that you guys- aside from Briar- really aren't enemies? _That_ Samantha Cromwell?"

"I thought that she was flirting!" Raven almost threw her hands up, but then remembered the sword and took the time to set it down before resuming the gesture. "She always sounded _flirtatious_ when she'd needle me, I kind of figured that she flirted the same way Faybelle flirts, and I only make it a point to not play in any competitions with her band and share as little venues as possible because I actually _like_ her stuff and I respect her work to the point where _I want_ to see her succeed! Singing and playing guitar in a high school band is my hobby and we get spare cash from all of our performances or the money goes to charities, I'm not going to stick with it after I graduate, but Samantha _does_ want to become a professional singer, it's only _right_ that I don't try to outshine a professional in the making!"

"…Did you tell her this? _When_ did you tell her this?" Cedar's voice was strained, trying to imagine the look on the other witch's face when all this went down.

Raven hung her head. "Last month. And yes, everything. From me saying that I always enjoyed her "aggressive flirting" to how I understood that being in a competition with her would boost sales but since I'm not interested in preforming as a career I never really saw the benefit of doing one of those battle-of-the-bands competitions… and that I was always her biggest fan and loved her music ever since she started singing and playing keyboard in elementary school."

"Ooh." Cedar winced. "Did she yell at you? Because if she hurt you we should call up Cerise and Ramona and they'll-"

"She didn't yell. Or hurt me in anyway aside from rejecting me." Raven quickly assured. "…She just got reeeally quiet and blushed so red I- She believed me at least, didn't do her normal paranoid spiel like what she always does with Briar whenever Briar lands us a wickedly sick place. And told me that she was not flirting, that she had no idea that I was not aiming to become a professional at this, that she had absolutely no idea that I was flirting with her, …and after a very long awkward silence she gave me free front row tickets to see her next show and told me that even though she doesn't see me the same way, that her beef was always with Briar anyway and that she'd like to avoid making enemies with me too since trying to become a professional in the music business is wicked harsh."

"…That was surprisingly nice of her." Cedar blinked.

"She's really not that bad of a person as long as you aren't standing in the way of her dreams." Raven confirmed. "It's just that she and Briar have always gotten off on the wrong note and she admits in the wake of my very embarrassing confession that she let her assumptions about me and the guys get the better of her to the point where she started to turn that paranoid attention at me and completely missed the way I was _actually_ flirting with her and not… pretending to be both polite and passive aggressive."

"Does Briar know?" Cedar asked.

"I told her about my crush, and she and the band at least could tell that I was flirting outrageously with Samantha the whole time… I just haven't gathered up the courage to say to her that I ignored her warnings and tried to ask Samantha out. I mean she nearly blew a gasket when I asked Desentrious RockCracker out-"

"Wait! You used to like _Desentrious_?" Cedar just barely choked on air.

"He's _cute_ , and _I am_ entitled to my own version of what _I_ find _attractive_." Raven sniffed in defense for her romantic feelings towards the large troll/rock giant elemental half-breed.

" _He_ turned _you_ down?" Cedar gaped, because Desentrious had always been tripping over his sandals after the prettiest popular mean girls crowd at school… and Raven was often argued to be one of _the most_ beautiful creatures in school and she was _way_ nicer than the girls that Desentrious usually went for.

"He said that he was flattered and that I made his entire week but I was far too delicate and proper for someone like him who prefers his women who have the ability to hit him so hard he sees pretty stars behinds his eyes and enough harsh sass to send his hearts all the flutter, he said that someone like me deserved to be with someone far better than him, like a troll king who owned a mountain and not one who lived in a communal quarry outside the city." Raven heaved a sigh. "We're still friends though, and he's been suggesting lately that I should go with my grandmother to Young Delta Birk's society introduction party next month, you know, that rock elemental whose father owns half of the marble mining industries in the country? Desentrious thinks that I have a real shot with him since I'm the proper kind of almost royal lady for a fancy rock troll like Young Delta."

"If only he knew that you aren't so much an almost royal as much as an _actual_ royal." Cedar mused faintly suddenly very suspicious towards Desentrious's preferences in females.

"Grandmother has joked that the Birk Company would become some of the richest creatures in this realm if they managed to get mining and other trade goods rights by having the CEO's son marry me." Raven commented bleakly. "At the very least with their security I'd never have to worry about being dragged off to Ever After High to become the next Evil Queen, over there I could be known as _Raven the troll's bride_ and pose picturesquely in a flowing gown whilst sitting in the palm of my husband's very large stone hand in all of the royal portraits. My father's great hall is certainly big enough to be a throne room for Young Delta and the rest of his family."

"Please tell me that you aren't seriously considering that." Cedar tried to shake off the mental image.

"Of course not. My mom and her friends did everything they could to free themselves from being chained to obligations like that; _I'm_ certainly not going to go back as some trophy wife! Besides, can you just imagine how the other royalty would react to the long lost daughter of the runaway Evil Queen coming back upon the shoulder of her husband who is not only six times her size but also a completely different species? Knowing how they do things over there they just might come at us with swords drawn!" Raven predicted knowingly. "And as for the other guy I tried to ask out on a date-"

"You know what? I can see why you never mentioned your past crushes! You don't have to list them all out." Cedar quickly halted the witch.

"You know the rest of our friends save for Faybelle and Briar said the same thing." Raven narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Even the ones from Wonderland, are my romantic interests really that strange?"

"…Faybelle and Briar know all about this?" Cedar redirected the question innocently.

"Well I told Briar about all the rest of my own free will, Faybelle ended up accidently walking in on over half of my attempts at convincing someone into a romantic relationship…" Raven trailed off tiredly. "And since she and Briar share practically everything since their, y'know, "bonded by destiny" or something like that."

"Uh huh." Cedar blinked, going back to her painting. "You do realize that if she hears about the Samantha thing from anybody else you are _so undead_ right?" Cedar reminded.

" _Ugh_ don't remind me…" Raven groaned because when your second best friend is also your overprotective big sister there is literally no escape. _Ever_.

"I'm sure that Cupid will be happy to give you some advice while she's here." Cedar assured closing the topic.

XXX

Like many generations before them the time after graduation and shortly after the fairytales there was of course the pressing issue of producing (or secretly adopting) heirs for the next generation, for the most part pregnancies of each graduating class and the children produced from them tended to happen all around the same time with an average two to three year gap at the most between them, there were exceptions of course however the pressure to produce heirs was so great that sooner or later a child would appear and would then be registered in the Book of Legends until the new generation's time came to sign it.

Well that was how it was supposed to be for all fairytale characters, however there was one exception for those select few whose destinies ran far deeper than any normal fairytale family's.

Clawstorm Queen glared spitefully down at the Book laid out on her work table, the real copy, not the fake one held up on display in a certain school's head office, she honestly didn't know why she didn't just destroy the damn thing years ago, couldn't understand why she still couldn't bring herself to do it now.

Well maybe she had an idea of why she didn't but seriously she should really be over this whole thing about family history, she hadn't been a proper royal for years, it had been her choice to turn her back on it all in the first place.

So why wasn't she burning the thrice-damned thing?

"Um… Dr. Grimmbook?" A soft hesitant voice spoke from the arched double doors of the room. "I don't mean to disturb but… could you help me find a cup for a bit of water?"

Immediately the witch relaxed, turning to the teenaged girl with a kind smile. "Of course Miss Cupid, it's no trouble at all."

"Thank you, I guess I'm just a little nervous about moving so far away from home." Cupid sighed. "Thank you for helping me."

"Of course! My colleagues from Wonderland agree with your father, times are changing over there and they need a kind face to help them. You'll be fine, I've been told that they adore those who look- I mean who fight for love and happiness, I'm just as certain as my daughters that you'll thrive over there." Clawstorm internally winced, she had almost said something along the lines of Cupid looking the part of a harmless maiden and therefore if she looked it then they'd all accept her as long as she did not breath a word about being different than the other maidens. No need to scare the girl, and also Clawstorm knew that Cupid already knew how to act just fine without having some bitter old witch making her even more nervy.

"You really think so?" The girl visibly straightened up in hope.

"I know so." Clawstorm assured, knowing better than anyone else that family breeding carried so much weight that even the cruelest of students would always be looked upon favorably by others as long as they were from the right family… and really you couldn't beat being the child of a god.

However, _this_ was her life now, the witch reminded herself sternly as she got up and led the winged girl to the kitchen, it was the combined roles of a good mother, a good friend, and someone who worked to do good in the world around her, this life fit her, it was right for her.

All the hurt and frustration of the past, the expectations both unfair and impossible to meet without driving her to insanity and ruin were far long gone, she was now a mere mild mannered witch who had found her thread of academic and personal pursuits to lead her to a life of success, respect, family, and happiness, there was protection and light freedom in becoming something that fit better into one's own skin than the ill-fitted contours and weight of other people's expectations and demands, ever since Clawstorm had ran away she could even look herself in the eye in the mirror and think; yes, yes this is me, this fits me like a glove, what a wonderful feeling this is!

She was getting better at getting over the past, time healing all wounds and sane relief pouring back into her headspace every time she looked around her and saw that she had moved on to the point where they could not touch her.

She'd burn that blasted Book of Legends sooner or later, be rid of the last tie to her past, there was nothing that she really wanted to keep from back then after all...

…She really would… eventually…

She certainly didn't feel as though she held any lingering obligations to the hidden illegitimate side of her heritage…

…Or at least she was getting over that feeling enough to move on… _right?_

Right… and maybe she could go back in time and clock the original Evil Queen into next week and save a little pale girl with black hair and an excessive amount of lipstick the trouble of being poisoned while she was still trying to convince herself that she didn't really care anymore even though she really truly was ridiculously happy with her life and how it had all turned out despite her royal blood bemoaning the fact that she and her daughter had been pushed out of their own homeland and rightful inheritance due to other people's idiocy.

Not that there would be anyone over there who cared enough to really have much to do with her if she had stayed, and even if she was never really declared dead what were they planning on doing to her? Scold her? Imprison her for not being evil? They couldn't do a thing to change how things were! And Raven was born in Boo York, she was a citizen, if they tried anything with her kid she could easily bring the authorities with their more advanced technologies and bury the lot of them in political accusations as kidnappers, a cult of evil witch hunters, and who knows what else that would hopefully include the kitchen sink as well.

At least she could accuse _them_ of being the evil ones, after all the only people who really cared about her personal wellbeing were either here or were in on all of this, certainly no one… no one in particular would give a damn if she wound up dead in a ditch…

He'd probably consider it a good riddance if they ever declared her dead and gone, a mistake and a disappointment all tied up and somewhere far away where it couldn't come back to ruin his perfect reputation, because propriety was more important than some trouble making little girl-…

"Dr. Grimmbook are you alright?" Cupid asked the spaced out woman in concern.

Clawstorm nearly jumped when she realized that she had been standing with the tap overflowing in the cup she held under the faucet.

"Oh hex, sorry about that kid, my mind was just… lost with the fairies, you know how that goes; it's late at night, deadlines are approaching and your mind just wanders on you." The witch chuckled in embarrassment as she turned off the tap and reached for a towel decorated with pumpkins (her mother and both daughters were really too charmed with the whole Halloween business).

"You looked pretty sad." The girl observed. "Almost… heartbroken if you don't mind me saying so."

The witch huffed a sober chuckle. "Yeah, I guess a being who is training in the ways of the heart would see that more clearly than most… though at least it's _almost_ heartbroken and not _completely_ heartbroken, I'd like to keep some dignity with my own self…"

"Something's been bothering you since I've come here." The winged girl stated making the witch internally flinch at how the kid was able to hit the problem right on the nose.

"I was just… I just get a little bit jittery when it comes to topic involving places like Ever After." Clawstorm, who knew that lying to a curious creature that could read hearts was probably not the smartest avenue to take, so she opted for a vague admission through truth to hide the full scope of things. "My birth father was from there you see and-… well let's just say that when he found out that he had fathered a witch he was… not happy. For the most part I'm over it but it still irks me that he just… threw me away over what I am… It's not your fault I'm feeling a little down, okay? So don't feel bad about being here, I respect your father greatly and I am happy that you are such good friends with my daughters but I will admit that I do get a little melancholy now and again when I'm reminded… of that place."

"I kinda know how you feel." Cupid admitted. "I was found on my dad's doorstep as a little baby, and when no one stepped forward as my parents the Cupids adopted me. I'm happy with them I really am, and I do feel like I am apart of their family but just knowing that somebody who had helped create me just dropped me off at some random doorstep without knowing what might happen to me or if I'd be safe is just-…"

"Like somebody kicked you in the stomach and then went on to slap you across the face when you lift your head up to ask them why they just did that?" Clawstorm said knowingly, Cupid nodded. "Yeah well at least I don't have to worry about my girls feeling the same way, their papa and I may not be married or in love but we get along like a band of thieves in a thicket and he adores the both of them to itty bitty pieces and they both have a truckload of grandmothers, and honorary aunties and uncles that are looking out for 'em, and you by the way have parents that I know adore you and you also have friends here so if anything happens, or you just want to talk just give us a call alright?"

Cupid beamed. "Thanks Dr. G."

"Anytime kid." Clawstorm smiled kindly as she handed the girl her water.

Welp, even if she couldn't bring herself to destroy it, at least the Book of Legends _did_ make for a rather pretty piece of bookshelf decoration, at least there was _something_ classy looking to glare out the scientific texts and trashy sci-fi novels…

XXX

A large figure hunched over his desk, scouring page after page.

This did not make sense.

He knows that the Evil Fairy had registered her daughter as the next Evil Fairy, Evil Queen, and Cannibal Witch, but he _knows_ that he had made absolutely sure that she'd _only_ be known in the Book as the next Evil Fairy and yet…

Legacy Day had come and gone and somehow, impossibly, the girl had been cast for _all_ _three_ villain roles! It was as if the other two families never existed! It was almost as if this was an indicator that-

No! He was almost certain that _she_ \- that _they_ were all still alive! It just would not do to give up hope and start thinking that this was how it had to be!

Fairytale characters just didn't _vanish_! He knew that they didn't!

…Even though he had to say that they did. For the sake of tradition and keeping destinies where they belonged, he had to say it.

Even though he secretly did not want to believe that for once it had actually all been true.

XXX

"And like I said before, it's a good thing that you go for personality slightly more than looks, it just means that you are ready for a more personally rewarding long-term relationship, just be sure to take thing slow so that you'll be less likely to get in over your head, you've got centuries of a lifetime to find someone who makes you happy, there is really no need to rush." Cupid assured while zipping up her overnight bag.

"See baby sis even the love expert agrees with me." Briar stated smugly from her bed.

"Is my love life, or lack of one really that interesting of a topic?" Raven asked the others warily.

"We discuss only because we care lil' bird." Briar grinned at the grumbling witch. "Besides the longer I can put off havin' 't put the fear of big sistah inta some undeserving dalliance who just wants some booty an' not-"

"Hoookay! Not gonna go there with my big sister!" Raven held her hand to her ears even as Cupid started giggling incessantly.

"I'm just bein' realistic." Briar pointed out. "It's rare these days to come across a decent creature our age who not only knows what they're doin' in matters of the heart but is also looking for investin' in a special kind of long-term thang that requires a slow buildup, an' let's face it baby sis the only kind of slow build up most hormonal peeps are lookin' for is-"

"GAH! I get it no more!" Raven pled. "At least Cupid will be seeing more innocent romances; I hear that they still practice Victorian style courting practices and most marriages are arranged beforehand over there."

"Dear ghosts Cupid! You're goin' t' be bored to an early undeath!" Briar mock despaired. "It's going t' be like one of Ray-ven's proper little old-fashioned novels where the ladies have to use fans to signal their interest and the men all have to stand up when a female enters the room!"

"That sounds more complicated than boring." Cupid pointed out. "But however the situation is over there the fact still remains that things are changing dramatically and tradition is being laid aside, they need someone who knows what's what and I'm up for the challenge."

"Well don't forget to send letters to tell us how it goes." Raven requested. "I'm certain that it'll get very interesting once the predicted tides of change start rolling, I certainly know that I'd love to someday visit Ever After sometime in the next three centuries if it ever becomes more ghoul friendly, and I'd like to brag that I knew someone who helped that change along!"

"I will do my very best to see to it that you get that chance." Cupid promised as she shouldered her bag and went to hug Raven and Briar goodbye.

Cupid was grateful for the Grimmbooks to allow her to stay with them while her travel arrangements were being made, seeing such familiarly welcome faces did help a lot with her anxiety with moving so far away for school.

And Raven was such a sweet ghoul it was sad that they couldn't have worked out as lovers, but alas that old saying about long distance relationships, especially ones made in high school were all too true for them. Still, Cupid felt that the witch would indeed one day find the right creature to give her heart to sooner or later given some time and patience.

However whether they'd survive Briar's overprotective scrutiny was a whole other issue to be sure.

"Right." Cupid said to herself a few hours later as she looked around her new school's campus. "I wonder if Blondie will be able to-"

"Cupid!" A voice cheered in the distance before the winged girl was nearly run over by an enthusiastic blonde girl sweeping her up into a hug.

 _I guess she could pick me out after all, must be the wings_. Cupid mused to herself just as she was being dragged away for an impromptu tour.


	3. It's all normal, I swear!

"Keep light on your feet girl! Remember; swift as a wisp, precise as a mantis, and as stubborn as a bolder!" Elenore Queen barked at Raven as the girl and the older woman traded blows with wooden training swords on the sparring mat. "Don't forget to send power into your feet for the jumps and the twists, it'll give you an edge!"

Raven tried not to think about it too much, she tried to focus on letting instinct take over, of moving bursts of magic through her feet so that she would be allowed to jump higher and twist faster, dodging her opponent's blows and saving excess energy that she would need to either prolong the fight or to win it.

And she was managing it; she could feel her body moving in a deadly dance as her senses did the thinking for her, as she surrendered herself to the dance of the battle instead of clinging to the thrum of normal thought.

She had managed to hold that state where all of her senses were wide open until the point to where thoughts began forming in the back of her brain because she started getting exited about finally gaining a little bit more control over her powers.

And that was where she got too distracted to notice mid-jump her grandmother reaching for her foot and bodily tossing her across the room.

As if to make up for her previous mistake Raven dropped her practice sword and threw up her own protective shield even as she was harmlessly caught and suspended in mid-air by the light blue light of the safety magic circle that had been set up just for such an occurrence.

"Alright ya lasted lots longer this time birdy!" Briar cheered from the sidelines of the dojo. "Like by almost a full second I bet!"

"Oh ha, ha, I'd like to see you do better." Raven jeered back as she righted herself and kept her posture perfectly upright as she was lowered slowly back down to the ground. "Seriously grandmother, how do you keep yourself from getting distracted whenever you spar with somebody, it's ghoulishly hard!" The younger witch half-whined.

"Adrenaline and the sheer want to keep living with all appendages intact helps." Elenore Queen quipped dryly as she took off her meshed protective helmet. "And admittedly you do balance out a bit if you channel your magic into the metal of your weapon as a sort of antenna, that also helps to make the power into your blows become more potent, _HOWEVER_ you still need to learn how to fight without doing either of those things first. Remember girls; all the magic in the world won't help you gain the upper hand in a real battle without employing the basics of your training along with all the fancy other stuff, I mean if you just stand there glowing and shouting your enemy is going to laugh at you before they proceed to throttle you. Remember what happened to that young man who dressed up in long underwear and called himself the Black Vengeance?"

Both girls winced, they had both seen that Ghoul-tube clip of a young man trying to emulate his favorite super hero and attempt to stop a mugging in progress, and while the young man later admitted to not having any formal experience with self-defense or martial arts he had procured an amulet that was supposed to make him extra strong and extra fast. The amulet did work but the perpetrator merely jumped to the side and stuck his foot out when the wannabe superhero ran at him and… it did not end well.

On the flip side the little boy who was being mugged was one of Elenore Queen's students, he took out the would-be mugger by use of actual martial arts and fighting mastery and then he kindly called for an ambulance as he diligently preformed first aid on the unconscious superhero.

They had that newspaper article framed up near the front entrance with two pictures; one of a brave little fourth grader solemnly handcuffing the paralyzed criminal as the laughing police officers stood by just in case the perp tried to harm himself further by moving too much before his muscles relaxed enough to bend the joints properly and one standing worriedly beside the stretcher, even offering a little serious-faced salute to the man who tried to save him as he was wheeled onto the ambulance.

They were all so proud of the dojo's brave little pupil, and all so very amused by the video footage that had been released by passerby and the camera watching that particular alley.

Although as far as everyone knew that same little boy made it a point to avoid shortcuts through dark alleys ever since, it was just safer for everybody, the scarred for life child had reasoned.

"Noted grams." Briar nodded grimly. "No chargin' headlong inta the sides of dumpsters for us."

Elenore shook her head in amusement to the horrified looks her grandchildren were giving each other, knowing that she had hit her mark well and that the two girls were imagining themselves being tripped into a myriad of things and then vowing to themselves to do their best not to let that happen to them. "At any rate, take fifteen girls, I'll start locking up while you two change, and while you're at it why don't you check the mail to see if your friend sent you a letter from the school in Ever After yet."

They had given Cupid the dojo's address to send letters to, as a precaution in case anybody from the school tried to track the renegade fairytale refugees down, the plan was to greet any troublemakers with either the authorities or Elenore Queen, the last of the Queen family to become the Evil Queen.

Reflectively facing Boo York's finest would be far more merciful.

In the locker room Raven hesitated mid-disrobing from her training gear.

"Listen Briar… I… have to tell you something before you hear it from someone else. Please don't get too mad 'kay? Because I already feel pretty down about the whole thing and… well I've learned my lesson so you don't have to-"

"Is this 'bout you askin' Samantha out a while ago?" Briar held up a palm as she interrupted.

Raven ceased her nervous fidgeting with her helmet. "You knew?" The witch looked up with wide eyes.

"Samantha came up to me not long after she turned ya down… she wanted to call a truce between us because it had become apparent to her that… well that her and I's rivalry was startin' to get out of hand. I didn't believe her at first but she said that she understood what it was like to be caught between somebody else's fight an' how embarrassin' it was to undergo a big misunderstandin' in relation to the heart an' now that she knows for sure that ya aren't goin' after her dream job that she'd actually like to get to know ya an' the band as potential allies an' friends… that an' she offered me one good free punch for breakin' your heart. I approved of that."

"You didn't…?" Raven looked at her sister in horror.

"Nah, of course not baby sis'… though I can't say that I wasn't tempted…" Briar trailed off dreamily.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Raven half demanded before nervously shifting meekly. "Are you mad?"

Briar heaved a heavy sigh. "Nah lil' bird, I ain't mad at ya, if anythin' I should be the one apologizin', you gots yer heart broken because I got you roped inta a fight that ain't yours. I know how timid ya are when it comes to the heart an' you do deserve to love someone who can love ya back no problem… you just… either live too far away or they've got their own thang goin' on."

"I know that I have plenty of time to find love and that if I'm lucky I'll be able to find love many times over my lifetime." Raven bit her lip. "But to be honest… sometimes it feels like some of the fairytale that mom left behind hasn't quite let go of me yet… I mean I keep falling for people I see as strong and powerful maidens and adorably super smart princes with openly honest hearts. Which is ironic considering the whole villain heritage thing…"

Briar snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah well I can bet ya that probably is more a family trait than ya might think, I mean you've seen how low mama-witch gets when she thinks about her princess breakin' her heart, an' even though grams is way over our absent granddad she was pretty hurt when he left her all alone once she became damaged goods. I'll bet ya a box of chocolates an' tissues that they're not the only ones in the family who was forced to stand back an' watch as those from "the right families" left them by the wayside or tried to knife 'em in the back when their use to them was over with. You're just lucky that ya keep fallin' for halfway decent peeps most of the time, imagine the number some sparkly frilly snob would do to ya if we was livin' in that fairytale dimension! I mean if Faybelle, Kitty, and yer girl Maddie all agree that things get way too serious about conformin' an' tryin' to be the perfect pwetty pwincess an' all that nonsense then things would only be way worse for your honest and big heart ya know?"

Raven huffed but smiled all the same. "Yeah well I hardly doubt that there is actually very many real kind and pure maidens and princes over there, what with the politics and all the drama that comes with being royalty, grandmother did say that all those TV shows are pretty accurate…"

"Exactly! It's not as though there is someone waitin' on the other side for ya specifically, just a bunch of weirdoes wantin' to be on the good end of a decent scandal, I'm sure that if asked they'd briskly tell anybody that once your use to them is done that you're expected to shove off until ya breed a kid for them to terrorize instead. An' with me they'd just as soon rather pretend that I never happened!" Briar nodded sagely. "It's not as though anybody over there actually wants to really get to know us or wants anythin' to do with us outside of what is expected, oh no, not for a descendant of a villain an' her illegitimate sister! We are better off here lookin' after each other like a real family should!"

"Yeah!" Raven grinned and hugged Briar. "And I'll bet that even if I did one day manage to visit the old homelands that I wouldn't find a true kind and thoughtful maiden or prince anywhere! They're all acting so who cares?"

"That's the spirit!" Briar grinned as she hugged her sister back.

XXX

Faybelle glared tiredly into her soup. "Oi princess, would you quite yammering on about that witchling you met at the bottom of a freaking well? So what if her mother kind of looked like the not-so-Evil Queen? Lots of witches from the old countries look like the absent royal family, it's called generations of illegitimate children and second cousins breeding into the common gene pool give it enough time and over half a kingdom can trace their ancestry back to royalty, you were probably just saved by an ordinary common witch and her kid who then fled into the night once you and your mom started to shriek about evil witches and calling out the inquisition and all of that stuff." The fairy narrowed her eyes.

Apple sat up from her lunch looking indignant. "We did no such thing! And my mom knows what the true Evil Queen looks like so well that she could pick her out from a mile away in a crowd! I _know_ that the girl who rescued me is the true heir to the villain part of my story and once I find her I will save her from disappearing and she will give me a proper fairytale like my mom was supposed to have and I just know that the two of us can become the best of friends and work together to restore fairytales back into their proper order and stop those Rebels from endangering everybody!" The blonde princess proclaimed with feeling.

"Uh huh." Faybelle said disbelievingly, knowing that the Queen family wanted nothing to do with fairytales anymore and that nobody was actually in danger. "Say princess, are you saying that my mother didn't poison your mom, like tradition states, and that your mom didn't actually get her Prince Charming, like tradition states?"

Apple bristled. "Your mom poisoned mine with a papaya!"

"Ah yes." Faybelle grinned dreamily at the ceiling, showing of the tips of her sharp needle-like fairy teeth. "Ingenious that, adding diversity to the diet of the story."

"And she outright terrorized daddy!" Apple almost hissed. "Making him play a whole bunch of weird games and making him climb a tower to get to my mom! She didn't even give my mother a glass coffin or let the dwarves and all the animals of the forest grieve over her body! She just carried my mom off into the sky and put her inside that… that…"

"Organic hibernation plant pod?" Faybelle outright grinned this time, showing all of her teeth.

"It was a plant cocoon filled with goo Faybelle." Apple glared.

"Well she was in hibernation, transforming from a little princess into a queen through the process of being offered up to some man that she had been arranged to be married to at birth." Faybelle shrugged blinking with false innocence and a wicked smirk. "Why not add some excitement to such a stale tale, and some fairy culture now that the responsibility of being the Evil Queen has fallen upon my family, you know since Clawstorm Queen has made it clear that she and her family want nothing to do with your family or the fairytale business anymore."

"That was a low blow Fay." Ashlynn said dryly, patting a seething Apple White on the back.

"Nothing wrong with reminding the damsel that I will one day poison her and of the truths of reality and besides that I actually _like_ the bunch who are rebelling against the establishment, they actually make things interesting around here, maidens and heroes adhering strictly to the same status quo gets so tedious it's not even worth it to muster up a proper evil cackle it's so overdone." Faybelle drawls just to dig the figurative knife in a little deeper. "Really it's just too much fun egging them on, giving them new ideas for little ways that they can break from tradition, and watching the sheer amount of pandemonium that erupts because of it, really it's everything a bored villain in a school filled with predictable perfectionists could ask for really." That and Briar was always so gleeful listening to the weekly little triumphs that the rebellion had won against fairytales as a whole, as long as it didn't mess with what Faybelle had going on with her roles she'd be willing to help the cause along in her own villainous little ways…

"But they'll disappear if they don't do their stories!" Apple gasped in shock. "You can't just encourage them!"

"You still believe in that hogwash even though you continue to search for Clawstorm Queen and her long lost child?" Faybelle snorted, trying to muffle a laugh, for some reason she just pictured Dr. Clawstorm GrimmBook (formerly Clawstorm Queen) looking down at herself and saying something along the lines: " _If I've disappeared then I must be in hell because this afterlife sucks! Where are the fountains of chocolate and the harem of naked winged spirits I was promised for dying a martyr?_ " or something like: " _Yesss, yes Clawstorm Queen has disappeared -got the legal papers and the spiffy new citizenship certificate to prove it actually- there is no need to bother her or her family anymore, we who have disappeared like it when we don't get found by nobodies_ ~", or maybe even something along the lines of: " _If she is still concerned that people will disappear then why is her psychotic mother still trying to find me? I put a lot of work into being dead and just because it's inconvenient for them they decide to just up and ignore it all? What's a girl gotta do to enjoy the spoils of properly vanishing into the night?_ "

"You think that this is funny?" Apple demanded. "People could be in serious danger here! The real Evil Queen could be in danger and her daughter too! Don't you care about what's going to happen to them at all?"

Faybelle shrugged, grinning fully to show off her sharp teeth completely and moving her body as well as her long pointed ears forwards in a very fairy kind of challenge.

"I am the future Evil Queen and Evil Fairy aren't I?" She clicked her tongue in wicked glee at the look of absolute horror that crossed Apple's face and Ashlynn's annoyed pinched look before transporting herself out of the cafeteria in a swirl of terrible dark blue magic that arced lightning through the air for a split second before the fairy was gone.

"What was that all about? I've never seen Faybelle act like this back home." Cupid whispers to her new roommate in the ensuing silence as the two girls (plus half the lunchroom) stared at a near hyperventilating Blonde princess from across the room (Ashlynn who didn't personally put much stock into the whole "everybody disappears" scare tactic and knows for a fact that Faybelle doesn't believe in it either just casts Faybelle's empty lunch tray a sour look as she pats a traumatized Apple on the back).

Blondie turns to her winged companion with a question, regarding to how exactly Cupid knew Faybelle when as far as the blonde reporter knew both the fairy and the young god only just met, on the very tip of her tongue, only for it to turn into a startled squeak when she spotted said fairy standing right behind them.

"Oh! Hello Fay, you startled me a tiny bit." Cupid gave Faybelle a kind familiar smile and, much to Blondie's immense surprise the fairy smirked cheekily back.

"My dear Chariclo, could you possibly spare a moment of your precious time? I need to discuss something of the utmost importance with you right away." Faybelle crooned almost flirtatiously as she rested her hands upon Cupid's shoulders.

"Oh of course, if it's that important, I'll be back soon Blondie." Cupid managed to wave at her roommate before both fairy and winged girl disappeared in a much more calm swirl of blue magic.

XXX

The moment the two were transported to the deserted south lawn Cupid dropped her cheerful expression and replaced it with a reproachful frown. "Faybelle, I understand that you are a villain…"

"It was necessary I assure you, perfectly proper form for a villain in these parts." Faybelle assured quickly. "If I was any less cruel I would have gotten real flack for not acting in character, I am _supposed_ to cause my damsel distress, it's confusing, I know but the Headmaster does have very strict rules about these proper formalities… and well to be honest I am more than a bit miffed that little old Apple is still so quick to throw all my hard earned work by the wayside just because I am of the wrong species and family blood…" Faybelle made an extra effort to look hurt and downcast at the last part of her hasty explanation, she considered going as far as to produce some fake tears but negated that thought seeing as how that would wound her pride way too much. "I do work very hard to be a good villain, to do my duty properly in the face of being handed so many stories to preside over, but it does sting when nobody appreciates it, at least the rebellion folks understand… although lately that understanding is more than what the traditionalists give me I'm afraid…"

"…This is all so very confusing." Cupid sighed, letting her shoulders drop. "What was that bit about people disappearing? It seems to have really upset Apple White over there."

At that Faybelle snorted, graduating to a snicker as she rolled her eyes. "Well for one thing it's not at all true, I'll get that out of the way right off. According to mom and auntie Doctor-witch, after his brother Giles Grimm went missing the Headmaster started implementing an old, very untrue, myth that if a fairytale character doesn't fulfill their story they'll disappear from the face of the world forever, and while there have been fairytale character who have disappeared… the truth is that in reality they've just runaway from it all. Off to far away dimensions where no one would ever find them and without heirs to continue the line the fairytales are either dropped from the roster, or like in my case, rolls are carried off to a different family to take them up."

"Runaway?" Cupid blinked. "But I thought that it was a big honor to be part of a fairytale."

"For many it is." Faybelle nodded. "But not for all, I'm sure that you have been warned about the sometimes volatile nature of politics and being very… select in what species is considered inherently good and which is considered inherently evil?"

Cupid shivered slightly but nodded, hugging her arms to herself as she distinctly felt the glamour charms placed into the smooth bone of her flesh, making her look more human, making it easier for others to not question what they saw even if they touched her to discover that her skin was not nearly as soft or pliant as everybody else's.

"The rebellion does not believe the Headmaster or in his strict laws designed to control everybody to the point that they do, and since the rebellion itself does not affect me or my stories I do what I can to help out… for Briar's sake." Faybelle sighed, putting an only halfway false note of truth in her voice.

"Briar?" Cupid asked.

"For her sake I cannot divulge the entire story, and if I hear anything, and _I mean anything from anybody else_ _but those who are supposed to know you are in big trouble you understand_?" Faybelle says with full sincerity in her seriousness. "Briar's the illegitimate child of one of the maidens from my mother and auntie Doctor-Witch's graduating class. They took pity on Briar as a baby and spirited her away while auntie Doctor-Witch was running away from… her abusive father. If they hadn't done something then Briar would have been brought to the Headmaster's attention and he would have banished her, just like he'd banish any illegitimate child born from the wrong breeding, to a place that not even the fairies know where exactly, and trust me, around here, that is cause for some worry."

Faybelle wasn't certain how much the whole banishing thing was true but she knew that Cupid would take it seriously, and therefore it would help in getting her to willingly keep mum about Briar and Raven.

"Dr. GrimmBook told me that her father threw her away…" Cupid whispered as the pieces dropped into place inside her brain, coming to her own conclusions.

Faybelle nodded. "That he did, but what they don't like to talk about is that while he did throw her away… he also used his… _influence_ to make her sort of regret being born, so to speak."

Cupid looked up sharply, her eyes alight with an emotion that was more intense than what Faybelle had anticipated, for a brief moment before the young goddess appeared to calm down slightly. "So… Apple White believes in this myth?"

"Yes and no." Faybelle waved her hand in the air lazily. "I personally don't know where Clawstorm Queen, the intended Evil Queen, ran off to but I do know that the extreme anti-Queen family politics that Snow White was campaigning for at the time did a serious number on the wellbeing of that witch-kingdom but because Snow White is supposedly the fairest of them all… well nobody was willing to stand up for a villain so she gave my mother the responsibility, begged really, it was awfully sad, and things stabilized and the common people thrived happily under a new semi-democratic government. It was supposed to be that everybody would assume that she just vanished and the line to the Queen throne died out but despite that the Headmaster and the White family insist that Clawstorm Queen and perhaps her heir are still alive out there so they are determined to find them and then drag them back against their will so that they can regain control of the rebelling fairytale characters who aren't buying into the scare tactics."

Cupid furrowed her brows. "Clawstor-?"

"It's a common villain kingdom name. Have more than a few in my personal family tree to be frank. Plus they both come from the same kingdom so there are some similarities but… well you know how similar people can look when they come from a certain region." Faybelle tried on her most charming grin with eyebrows waggling and everything.

"Ah." Cupid nodded, buying the lie. "But Apple white looked really frantic back there."

Faybelle shrugged helplessly. "She keeps insisting that I become a better villain, so I only do my best to oblige, but it's difficult because she says "be meaner to me" but when I do she's all disappointed because I'm not a witch and because in giving her exactly what she's asked for I've ended up hurting her feelings. If I liked her better I'd try to talk with her about finding a happy medium but she doesn't like me very much on principle and since I'm not the imaginary person she's looking for I'd never measure up to the pretend ideal of a villain in her head. Even if the heir to the Queen throne did exist I don't think that she or he would amount up to what that blonde nut thinks is a real villain. Trust me its just better being a maiden or a prince around Apple, she can be a bit…" Faybelle twirled her finger for the loony sign.

"Ah." Cupid nodded again. "Maybe it's a form of childhood comfort since she was probably raised to believe that the perfect villain will give her a perfect life… that and maybe there is a developing fetish…" the winged girl speculated to herself in a low murmur.

Faybelle choked on air. "Yep. That must be it." She breathed, not sure whether to laugh or retch. "Sounds legit. Let's go back."

Cupid paused, looking at the fairy curiously. "You aren't going to ask me whether I'll keep it a secret?"

"I don't ask because I know that you won't. Shrink to patient confidentiality and all that… plus you did date Briar's sister…" Faybelle coughed trying to mentally scrub the horrible image of Apple swooning after her aunt from her brain.

"And I like Dr. GrimmBook quite a bit." Cupid admitted, an unreadable look in her eye as she linked her hands around Faybelle's offered arm (although she wasn't usually so gentlemanly at school Faybelle did hold much respect for Cupid and she did like to keep her charming side in practice for when she visited the monster realm and didn't have to act like a villain all the time just to fit in, the fairy wasn't exactly lying about it being tiring after an hour or two). "She's earned to live her happily ever after in peace. I'll only concern myself with learning the culture from class and aiding my clients."


	4. He's my monkey's uncle!

"It'll be risky… What with you not knowing how your brother will react." Maddie hummed in thought, speaking in Ever After standard for her companion's benefit, after all it was one thing to speak riddlish it was a whole other ball game for an outsider to completely understand it. "Are you certain that you wouldn't prefer to just simply move to Wonderland to stay like I've always offered? My father would be willing to offer you a seat at his table, and I know that her highness could always use another librarian and researcher. You've done really, really great in your past visits!"

Giles Grimm smiled but shook his head in the negative.

"It has to be done this way huh?" Maddie chuckled good-naturedly while taking out her phone. "Well ookie dokie! I'll see what I can do~!"

XXX

Blondie bit her lip. "Sooo…" She began awkwardly as Cupid placed her book bag beside hers on the bench outside of the main school building before sitting next to the blonde reporter. "You know Faybelle from outside of school?"

Cupid chuckled warmly. "That's been bothering you since lunch hasn't it?"

"But I waited until we were out of class and in a less public place to ask!" Blondie looked proud of herself for the restraint.

"I used to date a relative of hers." Cupid confessed vaguely. "I managed to gain her respect for treating that relative well and remaining on good terms with them even when the long distance between us broke us up. Faybelle has promised my old lover to look out after me and explain the cultural differences since they are so very different than what I'm used to."

"Ohhh… so she whisked you away to explain why she was being so mean to Apple?" Blondie asked curious. "Is she like… nicer outside of school or something?"

Cupid hesitated, biting her lip. "She never strays from your proper codes of conduct in regards to how villains are supposed to act at all times if you are worried about her ever slipping up in being who she is destined to be. I can assure you even by my own testimony that she has always kept up the spirit of the perfect villain for her charges even when she has had to conform to other cultures ideas of what is considered polite." The winged girl clarified carefully. "Really I understand that she works hard to be nothing but the perfect villain, having to fill so many rolls as well as dealing with the opinions that she is not biologically worthy for them must be very tough on her."

Blondie was suddenly very confused, she was just curious to see if Faybelle acted different around other people outside of school but it almost felt like Cupid was afraid that Faybelle would get into trouble for not being her usual bad tempered bully self that she was in school.

Blondie trusted her reporter's gut, even when it tended to leave her bewildered and off kilter.

"Is that why Faybelle pulled you to the side? To explain to you that she was being mean to Apple because she's just doing her duty? Um… that she is just trying to give Apple exactly what she's asking for perchance?" Because Blondie had heard the fairy say those exact same words time and again whenever someone would try to confront the fairy for her over the top actions, except it all tended to be spoken in a mocking voice, which told everybody that Faybelle didn't believe a word she herself, was saying. Blondie got the distinct impression that Faybelle had used a more convincing tone when speaking to Cupid.

And while Apple did talk big game about what she thought a villain should do, everybody knew that she just wanted someone who would make sure that she got her story right and someone who would be there as her friend to comfort her in moments of worry, because Apple was prone to bouts of panic because there was a lot of pressure on her to become the perfect maiden and Apple was constantly anxious that she'd make one wrong step and mess it all up somehow.

And that's what Faybelle liked to pray upon whenever she had the chance to.

Nobody quite knew what Faybelle's deal with Apple was, even the Crumb cousins didn't really see her as their villain but for some reason the fairy came down hard onto Apple with a malicious sort of glee that was downright worrying most of the time, like with today, insinuating that not only did Faybelle not care if dozens, perhaps half the school if she was being truthful, disappeared as a result of not fulfilling the story but also that she'd be thrilled if the real Evil Queen and her daughter were to vanish completely from existence just so that the Thorn family could keep all of it's acquired titles. That had utterly traumatized Apple, who believed in the disappearing theory with everything that she had.

"I'm so glad that you understand." Cupid breathed a sigh of relief. "Really I don't mean to cause any offense, it's a good thing that Faybelle explained it all to me or I fear that I would have made a big idiot out of myself trying to tell her what she was doing was not right. I have to keep in mind that what is impolite and mean at home does not apply to here if I want to get through these school years successfully."

"I perfectly understand." Blondie grinned innocently while standing back up. "Now if you will excuse me I just remembered that I have to talk to Ashlynn about something, do you want me to bring you anything back to the dorm from the village later?"

"Oh you are just too sweet!" Cupid crooned. "But no thank you, I'm still trying to get through the sack of snacks that Mistress Elenore -she's one of the people who helped me get here- gave to me, the bag looks so small but sometimes it's almost as if the snacks in it just regenerate or something! I'll be sure to set aside a soul cake just for you!"

"Now who's the sweet one?" Blondie giggled before walking away, a determined gleam in her eyes as she planned out how she was going to enlist Ashlynn's help in confronting a certain fairy about misleading someone as kind as Cupid over the school's traditions…

"Howdy!" Maddie announced herself making Cupid jump. Only for the winged girl to jump again when she saw that Maddie had somehow managed to sit beside her without her noticing. "I need your help with something Raven's winged goddess of love and relationship councilor! Care to follow me down into the bottom of the school for a few minutes? Apple, Hunter, and Ashlynn are waiting in the library!"

"Oh! Can I… what's the word? Hext! Can I hext Blondie? She's looking for Ashlynn." Cupid requested.

Maddie grinned all the wider. "Sure thing! The more the merry-go-round!"

XXX

"Wait, he's locked Giles up underneath the school all those years ago? But he's his brother! And how long exactly have you known about this? 'Cause some people would like to be informed about the whereabouts of the uncle that they actually do like despite the feelings of loathing towards their absent father!" Clawstorm snapped irritably, not nearly as harsh as she could get because where the Mad Hatter was concerned she just had a difficult time ever actually getting cross with the same man who had so willingly helped her out with the kids while she was at class, the Good King was off ruling two kingdoms, the Evil Fairy was off causing trouble with the Cheshire Cat, and both Simone and Bane were up to their ears with two rowdy pups and work in a thankfully very welcoming community of werewolves in another district in the city and everyone else was too far away to help out.

"So Evil Fairy's suspicions were right? He is your monkey's uncle?" The Mad Hatter blinked, batting his lashes in an exaggerated motion, which signaled genuine surprise for the mad man.

Clawstorm froze, pursing her lips while scratching the side of her unwashed and untamed hair. "There is a reason why I prefer not to have to deal with anybody until after a scalding shower and at least two cups of caffeine after just avoiding a massive deadline alright?" She coughed scuffing her bare toe into the plush white carpet.

"That does sound like cause for bouts of insanity." The Mad Hatter nodded sagely.

Clawstorm brightened. "Yes! Completely crazy! That's me right now, come on in and I'll be with you in proper working order in about a half an hour or so…"

"And that's when you can explain everything and I can explain everything so that we are both at tip top with the situation!" The Mad Hatter exclaimed cheerfully.

"Er… You aren't going to let it drop are you?" Clawstorm asked timidly closing the door behind one of her closest friends as he walked towards the kitchen to get the tea and coffee ready.

"Well good friends are the ones who you tend to tell secrets to, and good friends will be there to keep them and to make sure that they don't go all wicky wonky on you later on." The Mad Hatter pointed out gently.

Clawstorm groaned, succumbing to defeat. "That's the fifth time this month I've slipped up in regards to my parentage. Ma keeps saying that it's a sign that I'm moving on and that I'm starting to feel safer with my life here but admitting as such isn't the real problem, I mean it's not actually that big of a secret, not really, especially since nobody really cares since I'm a bastard and all that. But it's the whole thing with dealing with a part about myself that I really would prefer pretending never existed ya know? And it's not like I'm trying to keep it an active secret from you or the others…" The witch trailed off uncertainly, not sure where she was going with all this first thing in the morning- er, well late at night since it wouldn't be morning until ten more minutes, and wearing only her sleep shirt and shorts.

"I'm not usually up this late am I?" The woman stared at the clock blearily.

"You are as nocturnal as a fluorescent mother cat." The Mad Hatter informed while doing some interesting things with water and the stove, which defied the physics of this particular realm. "And we've all suspected this secret, after all you don't really like keeping secrets from us incase your worse fears come true and you need a friendly hand who knows where and how to rescue you from being imprisoned."

Clawstorm shivered at the common nightmare. "How did you know-?"

"Too much Wonderlandian grag loosens your tongue as well as your clothes." The man smiled innocently. "There is a reason why we don't let you or sweet little Simone sip, gobble, and gulp all alone my dear."

"Yes… er." Clawstorm blushed. "Thanks again for like the thousandth time, for helping me home that one time after Raven and I were almost caught back at Ever After. I don't remember much save for shouting at the sky in the park and the awfully chilly breeze I got from standing in that tree… without very much proper clothing on… er, or so I've been informed."

"Oh silly dear, you were just peachy getting back home without the coppers seeing, I'm afraid that Bane was the one who had his hands full with both Simone and Lady Cheshire." The Mad Hatter reminded.

"It's just that I'm trying so hard not to live in the past and I don't want to drag my kids down with me whenever I get into a mood!" Clawstorm sighed, giving up. "I'm living out my dream and in context I could care even less about my father than I did when I was a girl, I mean I get it; I'm the bastard child he never wanted, my mother moved on and never looked back, and I've gotten over my brief stint trying to make him proud of me even though he only was happy with me for a very short time until I had decided to run off and all of his hopes that I'd be a proper fairytale villain and the ultimate example to be talked about for generations to come was so utterly dashed and really, me striving to excel in being such a good villain was only as a sort of parting apology before I left old Snowball high and dry. So why can't I shake off that dreadful nightmare? I did tell you that it was a nightmare right?"

"One you have bouts of every few months as I recall, though seeing as how that was some time ago I do hope that it has been diminishing some." By magic the man set down a perfect mug of spiced coffee and a cup of tea for himself down upon the black granite counter. He didn't ask any more questions on the matter, telling Clawstorm that he probably knew more than what he was letting on and was doing one of those Wonderlandian things where one warrior would help out another by tricking them to actually _talk_ about what needed to be voiced in order to get the scary memories and paralyzing fears under control.

"It has. Though it's still pretty scary when I do have it." Clawstorm nodded glumly before retreating back into silence and staring imploringly at the hot liquid in her usual mug. "…So how is my Uncle Giles and why am I only hearing about his dramatic fallout with my father now?"

"It was his express desire that no one, not a one of any sort and breathing, knew about him." Mad Hatter told her apologetically. "He's figured out that the Book isn't the Book but it is in fact your Book, and he's worried about how far his brother will go once he figures out about the Book being your Book."

Clawstorm took a moment to interpret that. "What? He's worried that old grumpy Grimm will wind up hurting himself trying to exact his wrath upon me for deliberately legitimizing giving my role to someone else? Traditionally only a Grimm can have the power to assign different roles to people, even as a bastard it is still within my full rights and power, he can't challenge it to my face since he can't find me and I've got you guys on standby, if I really had to I suppose that I could just out him as my father and that would be that…"

"He's more worried about him jumping into your Book to find out what you had done actually." Mad Hatter sipped his tea and waited.

"Into- but he's not a fairytale character! That would be- oh, Oh crap. He would be the kind to do that, my blood never meant much to him even though it would certainly mean quite a big deal if he were to just up and do that!" The witch actually stood up out of her seat in alarm. "Wait, what's Giles's plan in all of this? He's not going to try anything rash is he?"

"He has asked Madeline to help him gather up some students so that they can go into your Book." The man informed.

"What? Why? He already knows that it's not the real one!" Clawstorm demanded.

"But it is _real enough_ to serve as a proper substitute and it was real enough for the Headmaster to rip up and throw the cure to the curse he placed upon his brother of blood into." The Hatter informed calmly.

"Curse?" Clawstorm narrowed her eyes.

"Nothing to cause you need to fear for more nightmares my dear, he just can't stop the riddlish tongue, and he has been able to go to Wonderland, I had been willing to bring him into the fold years and years ago when I had first known, but he did not want to run, he stayed, and he endured for the sake of protecting his brother the day it came for young Miss Faybelle to take up the throne for the sake of all of you."

"By the gods- alright what's the plan? I can be there as soon as possible. The Hall of the Ancestors won't show itself until midday tomorrow over there so…" Clawstorm tried to calculate the time difference with the wonky rules of inter-dimensional travel.

"Worry not, I'll come for you an hour before we need to move." The Hatter assured confidently. "But we need not worry ourselves for a few days, if all goes to plan."

Clawstorm was about to speak before pausing and nodding in defeat, draining her mug as she did so. "I'm off to take a shower, feel free to help yourself to my personal tea and sweets cabinet, honestly I don't know how my students managed to get it into their heads that I was solely a tea person and not a caffeine addict, I keep getting tea as gifts from the university whenever my department brings in more high class donors."

The Hatter's eyes are wide and trying very hard to project complete innocence. "That is indeed a mystery, oh well if you insist!" He says before turning to mentioned cabinet with an air of unrestrained glee.

Clawstorm rolled her eyes, making a specific hand gesture to something invisible in the room before leaving for the bath.

"Kitty…" The woman's voice is a warning the second she closes the main bathroom suite's door. "What are you doing here spying on a weekday?"

Kitty Cheshire's wide eyes were to appear first as her usual grin was more of a pleading line right now. "Maddie's been keeping secrets auntie!" The kitten-girl whined. "I wanted to know why she's been so serious!"

Clawstorm raised a brow. "And you couldn't have just called?"

"…I may have wanted to reserve tickets from Raven to see that new concert that we are allowed to see now that Briar and that Cromwell girl have had their truce…" Kitty admitted cagily under the weight of her aunt's expectant stare.

"Doesn't your school have a bookball game that same day?" Clawstorm asked mildly.

Kitty made a face. "Watching the boys get their faces kicked in because they won't allow girls on the team is too boring, hardly anybody from our side shows up anymore. Actually I've never actually seen or heard of packed seats since my first day come to think of it."

"That's because it would seem as though _nothing_ has changed from my days going to school there." Clawstorm sighed, the bookball team was never actually very good, it's what you got for putting a bunch of lads out on the field who only knew how to either fight tame dragons or how to battle by express rules that nobody had used in a real battle ever. "Fine, you can stay the night and I'll contact your mum to tell her that you have decent mischievous reason to be here for the night and the morning, but that is only because you were so worried for Maddie okay? In return I'd appreciate it if you could please keep an eye out for Maddie and the rest of them? Contact my mother if there is any real trouble going down, you are allowed to use one of my pet projects so that you can be both at school and at the concert, but you've gotta multitask ya hear?"

Kitty's eyes lit up with pure glee, rushing forwards to hug the witch by the waist. "Oh thank you auntie, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The witch huffed a content sigh, oh to be young again… "Aw geeze it's just a concert kitten. Now go bug my spawn so that I can take a bath."

Moments later Clawstorm grinned into the hot spray of the shower as she heard the familiar sounds of her startled children getting a rude Kitty awakening.

It was nice having a house bustling full of people at all hours, Clawstorm reflected, though it was not considered normal it was rather comforting compared to the loneliness of the past, she was hardly normal, and yet she had found a family of sorts to match it to the point where weird became normal, and what a happy weird-normal that it was.

XXX

"Are you sure that you won't come Briar?" Raven asked her sister as she peered into the bags full of mysterious goods that her sister had brought into her room.

"The deal was to try not to fight, I'm good at not fighting with Samantha as long as I'm not in the same room as her." Briar insisted, shooing Raven away from the bag. "It's your costume for the concert, Samantha wants to try to bring in more of your fans by having you do a guitar solo or two and sing a song with her, she feels that bringing you in and combining forces with her guys and our guys over the next couple of months will prove beneficial, a treat for the fans if you will to have local guest artists preforming with her."

"Well of course I'll be happy to help out." Raven said automatically just as Briar knew that she would, Raven was good at getting over her crushes without animosity and had been getting nervous as of late because so many of the kids at school were just assuming that she'd go pro like Samantha was trying to do.

Not very many things were as disturbing as crazy fans that were outraged over their favorite singer deciding to retire.

"Alright! This is gonna be sweet!" Kitty cackled from the bed.

"Why are you even here Kitty?" Briar grumbled in mock irritation.

Kitty stuck out her tongue. "My school is making parade floats today instead of holding class, since everyone just lumps us Wonderlandians all together we only use one float and Alistair is the only one who really needs to be on it so the rest of us just lop the honor onto him so that we can do our own thing."

"And what does he think of that?" Raven snickered, already imagining the blond boy's resigned face. A Wonderlandian's definition of a team spirit parade was one that either celebrated the anniversary of a victorious battle or welcomed home warriors from battle and most other kinds of parades would not be considered very acceptable for the faint of heart (because of the bloodshed or advertisement of upcoming bloodshed for public executions and gladiator matches) in Ever After so it was kind of odd for that school to just expect the Wonderlandian crowd to find the same level of cultural enjoyment for celebrating a chronic losing team and have their ancestral fairytale story be represented in support of said team of really pathetic gladiators.

Kitty grinned. "One male against a whole cast of ladies? He never stood a chance to get out of it."

Briar rolled her eyes before turning and handing her younger sibling a pair of black and white knee-high cloth boots. "Here Raven, wear these boots for a while so that you are able to break them in by Showtime."

"And the reason why you aren't showing me the rest of the outfit is because…?" Raven prompted suspiciously trying to reach around Briar for the bags.

"You'll look fabulous. Trust me. You just worry about practicing your cords and picking out a weapon for opening night." Briar assured while snatching the rest of the shopping bags away from the curious hands of the witch.

It was sort of an accidental trademark that Raven's fans from school would associate Raven's stage persona with an accompanied weapon from her grandmother's dojo strapped somewhere on her body, the first significant school supported concert that Raven had preformed in had also coincided with the dojo's weapon's care and maintenance day along with one of Cedar's art projects and the wooden girl had wanted Raven to pose with a real katana sword if Elenore would be so kind as to allow it, and since that day had gotten even more hectic with both Cedar and the other opening band rescheduling Raven ended up walking out onto stage while quickly re-sheathing the katana that she had been halfway through rubbing down with a polishing cloth backstage because she had thought that she had time to do so five minutes ago!

The people in the stands loved it though, they all knew that her grandmother ran a dojo for the purposes of teaching the fearful and the timid to defend themselves when necessary with a bunch of other well known women of the city, and her mother had been a special guest in enough mad science classrooms that the sight of a (blunted, no sharp objects in school, Raven had stressed to Cedar who, like many elementals of a certain nature, never quite understood the fear that those with soft flesh and insides had with sharp objects since she could easily regrow her limbs or holes made in her body from tripping and falling onto things while carrying art supplies) sword being put away into it's sheath at her back was almost seen as something that a Grimmbook would normally do according to those who had either met or seen Clawstorm.

And from then on it became her trademark, one that was actually supported by the dojo because whenever Raven had an event coming up with her band she'd receive a different blunted or mockup weapon to showcase as a sort of free advertisement for the good things that the dojo provided the citizens of the city.

Personally Raven didn't understand what the big deal was and was more than a bit frazzled at all the attention one frantic moment of; "I am not going to leave a freaking sword, blunted as it may be, in the back where some idiot can swipe it and try to cause trouble with it" had caused. But whenever she so much as lightly mused out loud that perhaps she'd leave out the dwarf designed brass knuckles or the Celtic troll club she was always met by some horrified fan pleading with her not to with an emotion that bordered or even crossed the line into fanatic.

It was nice having people appreciate your hobby but Raven was getting to the point to where she was seriously getting worried about how some fans might react once she quit the show biz for good in order to pursue other interests. To be honest that little worry had more than once kept her up at odd hours of the night because while most of her fans were pretty normal and were cool with her being, like an actual person once the show was over, others… well there weren't many but a few others almost looked to her as some sort of god and would snap at her other classmates for daring to as if they could borrow a pencil from her.

It was worrying.

But Briar being just about the best sister ever had shoved her pride away to have another talk with Samantha Cromwell, this time on the topic of making it appear that she and Raven combined forces so that Raven's fanatic fans would hopefully get endeared to Samantha, who knew how to handle such people and attentions like a natural born singing star, so that the blow of Raven going off to explore her options for her future in non-music-related areas wasn't so severe.

And it was a good thing for both sides because Samantha had people in her band who were like Raven and looking towards pursuing other interests after high school and Briar had people in Raven's band who wanted to stay in showbiz if they could, in theory if they kept swapping in and out those who wanted to stay with those who were going to leave while Samantha and Raven began doing more and more shows together (but not enough to give the impression that they were going to stay together as one team), they could train a cobbled together team that would work fantastic for Samantha when it came time for her to hit the big time.

With this in mind Raven let the mystery of what outfit Briar was planning on making her wear stay a mystery… for now, the witch was still rather justifiably suspicious, after all when left alone Briar did prefer to choose outfits that were… a little odd looking than what Raven was normally comfortable with.

"By the way your mom is going to break some news to you guys pretty soon, apparently the head-oaf that runs Ever After High needs to be saved from himself. Again. Seems that Giles Grimm has figured out that the Book is not the Book and he knows that his brother is on the cusp of figuring out that your mom did a switcheroo on the Book of Legends and Giles is worried that he might end up getting himself hurt if he tries, idiotically, to use your mom's Book to pinpoint her location. So she and the Hatter are going to the campus incognito to make sure that doesn't happen." Kitty warned in a bored tone, she never really did warm up to grumpy Headmaster Grimm and all his preaching about fear and strict codes of conduct. It really put a dampener on any pranks that she did attempt because it all had to be "school approved" and run through by one of the villain teachers.

What was the point if your plans for a good prank had to be looked over and revised by some old fuddy duddy who put the wrong kind of villainous spin on all of her ideas? She was a trickster not a villain!

Both Raven and Briar tensed.

"If they finally found Giles then why doesn't he save his own damn brother?" Briar broke the tense silence.

"Because the Headmaster is the one who made him disappear in the first place." Kitty sighed, eyeing the horror crossing the faces of the sisters with a mild expression of pity. "Apparently Giles became "sympathetic" to your mom's decision to leave Ever After without completing her part of the story and the Headmaster just could not have that so he cursed Giles to speak only riddlish and locked him up in the vaults under the school's library. I'm not sure about the full story but apparently the Hatter family stumbled upon him one day and in keeping up with the spirit of the confidentiality rules that our parents all agreed upon, did not tell him about the other refugees but gave him the option of running off to Wonderland with the idea in mind to watch over him for a while before then determining whether or not he should be brought into the fold. However he's been adamant on staying and looking after his brother through what limited ways he can."

There were more than a few people that were apart of the growing rebellion at Ever After High that Faybelle and the Wonderlandians were cautiously looking over incase other desperate cases came up that needed to be spirited away into the night, the hope was that this rebellion would become established to the point to where people in power were no longer so fearful that the children would go poof that they wouldn't back up the Headmaster or Snow White with overwhelming force when, not if, but when people started to break free from tradition for real.

"Dedicated. Utterly suicidal and foolhardy, but dedicated nonetheless." Briar's eye twitched. "Mama-witch and uncle Hatter are going to be there for when it all turns sour right? Because locking your own brother up for not agreeing with you is…"

"That's what I'm guessing, but auntie will be telling you guys more about all of this later and in greater detail I suspect." Kitty mused lightly. "In any case it doesn't seem to be all that major because auntie has enlisted me instead of my mom to help out."

"She's what?" Raven blinked while standing beside her Briar's eye twitched again in growing dread.


	5. I found her at the bottom of a hole!

Apple sighed despairingly as she gingerly hung the shiny apple-shaped ornament up on the fake tree she had built out of her float.

 _"What do you mean something is wrong with the Book of Legends mysterious all-knowing stranger who lives at the bottom of the school?" Hunter asked with very, unusually wide eyes and a tone that sounded more than a bit off, the display causing Giles to bite his lip to hold back laughter and Maddie and Ashlynn to make sporadic motions at the boy for some reason._

 _But that didn't matter to Apple, because all that she could focus on was the fact that she had just been told that the Book of Legends, the artifact that held all the fairytales together was off somehow and if it wasn't working correctly then…_

 _"Could this mean that if we fix it the real name of my real intended villain will be revealed?" Apple held her breath, her heart aching with slowly growing hope._

 _Giles nodded and babbled something about horses but Maddie nodded slowly, understanding the older man's words. "Anything might be possible…" The Hatter stated with an odd carefulness. "But we won't know unless we check it out."_

 _"Oh yes!" Apple cheered right up hopping up and down and clapping her hands._

 _"But as the tinker always insists it is best not to get your hopes up too high Apple-bee." Maddie's voice was only this side of politely scolding._

 _Apple deflated._

The blonde princess sighed again as she was drawn back from the memory.

Maddie may be right in that Apple should not get her hopes up so high, for all she knew Faybelle really was her villain now and that girl and her mother who had saved her from the well had either disappeared already or… or maybe they hadn't and they just didn't want to be apart of the fairytales any-

No! That couldn't be right… could it? No, no it couldn't because… well they all had to follow their stories didn't they? After all Apple was born to be the fairest maiden of them all and despite the teensy little hiccup of her, having blonde hair… and having side interests in things that were more on the academic side rather than just strictly maidenly interests and princess obligations to running a kingdom… and what with her looking more and more like her dad than her mom as the years passed… and the whole glasses thing, plus the fact that in the middle of the night in her quiet private dorm while laying in bed she did kind of feel a little cheated that she couldn't inherit her own birthright and kingdom without having to marry a prince first- _what was her point again?_ Oh yes! The point was that Apple was born for the role of Snow White just like the real Evil Queen was born specifically for the role of poisoning her mom!

…Except she didn't poison her mom, the real Evil Queen disappeared and left the Evil Fairy to steal that role for herself.

And if Apple was being honest with herself, really truly honest, she could see herself grudgingly admitting that if the Real Evil Queen and her daughter were still out there somewhere and had not disappeared even after all this time… then maybe they were never in danger of that fate in the first place and if they didn't want the role then…

But Apple still couldn't bring herself to let go of her need to have that little witch-child that she had met that day be the one to poison her and give her the happy ending that she always wanted but was terrified that… her defects would prevent her to get.

Because when Apple had met that little witch she was utterly bewitchingly perfect and after she had found out that witch was her true destined villain Apple had wanted no one else to play the role of her villain.

Years ago while visiting the forest villages with her mother to better learn how to smile and wave properly to the common people in order to boost her personal image Apple had been a very bad little girl and wandered away from her mother's entourage when the adults had all been busy with boring grown up stuff when she saw a butterfly and had decided that chasing the insect would be more fun than standing quietly and still at her mother's side like she had been told to do since little princesses at her age were to be seen and fawned over but not heard or acting all rambunctious. Her mother had said that only bad little princesses spoke at the wrong times or wiggled in their seats to the point of distracting the adults when they had important things to discuss.

But Apple had been too young to really understand much less care about why acting so proper was so important, she had been bored and she had wanted to play.

And that's when she saw the butterfly flap past.

So Apple being a bad girl had snuck away from her mother and followed the butterfly into the forest where she eventually came upon a crumbling small round stone wall that led to a weird hole in the ground and when she leaned over the edge she could see a curious light moving around at the bottom.

Apple soon found that she had leaned too far over the edge of the stone wall of the well, for in the next moment she lost her balance and came tumbling down, screaming in terror as she dropped…

Only to end up safely landing on someone who had been at the bottom already.

Apple had never gotten the small witch-girl's name, something that Apple would kick herself for years and years later, but the dark haired girl hadn't seemed to see fit to offer hers nor did she seem offended when Apple had rudely declared herself; _"I'm Apple and I'm the fairest princess in all the world, my mom said so!"_ without asking for the witch-child's name so at least there was that, and there really that much time for it because once the oddity of landing on someone randomly at the bottom of a well wore off Apple started to get scared, the light that she had seen at the bottom had vanished and no matter how loudly or for how long (less than five minutes Apple later calculated when she was older) she had called out neither her mother nor her guards came to get her.

After Apple was too out of breath to shout any longer and began to cry the witch-girl slowly lowered her fingers from her ears and had hugged Apple so sweetly, rubbing Apple's back and using a purple handkerchief to wipe away Apple's tears, singing softly in a language that Apple didn't understand but was immediately comforted by.

 _"Wha- what if we can't get out?"_ Apple had sniffled, clinging to her new friend desperately. _"What if they never find us? This isn't like the fairytales at all! I'm in so much trouble, what kind of maiden does a bad girl thing and just… wanders away?"_

 _"I thought that maidens were supposed to get themselves into trouble and wander away in the fairytales."_ The witch had grunted under the strength of Apple's hug. _"Isn't that how they are able to get themselves the happily ever after? Get into trouble and have someone save them?"_

 _"Yes but you need to have a villain to have a good fairytale!"_ Apple had despaired, not having heard at that point very many fairytales aside from her own and therefore was unaware that there were, in fact, several stories that did not have a villain in them (humpty dumpty for example and Humphrey was rather relieved about that seeing as he currently had a steadily growing phobia-of-Faybelle and really wouldn't know what to do with himself other than scream and runaway if he did have a villain like Faybelle in his story). _"And my mom says that the Evil Fairy is a horrible replacement for the real Evil Queen so as long as she's around Snow White will never get a proper story!"_

 _"…I'm not too sure about that…"_ The witch had coughed cagily. _"I've heard that the Evil Fairy was very creative in- oh hey don't cry, look if you'll loosen my fingers a bit I'll see about getting some light down here okay?"_

 _"The real villain to the story of Snow White was supposed to be cunning and bewitching and evil and super powerful in magic!"_ Apple continued to sob into the other's neck as the witch had tried to move her trapped hands from Apple's front. _"She had been perfect for the role born right into it and then she disappeared, she's gone forever and I-"_

There was a flash of light and Apple looked up in surprise to see that the witch's freed hand was glowing.

 _"Listen, I may be a very… pathetic villain, I wouldn't know what to do even if I wanted that kind of role, but I can do magic, and I do know the way out, so would it be alright with you if for once the witch in the story saves the princess while also giving her the proper happy ending? Because I may not be apart of a fairytale, but I do hate it when maidens are scared and crying… it shouldn't be allowed for a maiden who has so much to be happy about be all sad and scared of being alone in the dark."_ The witch spoke both apologetically and earnestly.

 _"But I'm not alone."_ Apple realized out loud, everything in her little worldview suddenly feeling right and just how it should be for the first time since the day she had finally understood why her mother snapped at and about the Evil Fairy so much. _"You're here with me."_

The long dried up well had turned out to be, when Apple looked around in the witch's glowing light a part of an ancient underground cave that some hermit years and, years ago had drilled a hole in the roof of and had drained dry the underground lake that the two girls had been standing in the remains of this whole time.

It had been utterly magical, Apple remembered as they walked hand in hand through a natural stone tunnel formed from millions of years of having water flow through it, through the glow of the witch's hand the rock had glittered more prettily than all the jewels in the palace (and that was saying something), the shapes that the rock had been carved into were both alien and fascinating, and the old drawings on the cave walls, created by people and civilizations long forgotten in time made Apple gape in wonder for what was depicted on the walls wasn't the kind of art that she'd ever seen and it was odd in an absolutely fantastic new sort of way.

 _"Little black bird? Birdy! Birdy where are you?"_ Voices had floated into the cave and the witch had to pull a reluctant Apple away from the amazing drawings on the cave walls.

The Evil Queen didn't look that evil, even while wearing a traditional witch's hat and strange clothing the woman looked just like a normal person to Apple's initial first impressions and to this day it was rather difficult remembering the woman's face because she had at that point been so ordinary and plain that Apple lost much interest in her the moment her new friend had introduced the woman as her mother.

 _"She didn't do nothing to you did she? Cause I've heard Fay say some stuff about the crazy things that these people in the villages get up to and she said that there was a lot of flagrant debauchery amongst the plebeians!"_ Apple's first impression of Briar, her new witch friend's older foster sister was a little more memorable however.

 _"You sound like my grandma."_ Apple had observed in that blunt sort of way little children are ought to do, while the Evil Queen had been busy using her magic to clean and fix Apple's dress. _"You talk all proper and with long words just like she does. Do you come from Ever After too?"_

For some reason Briar had been horrified by something that Apple said. _"I am certainly not! I am not at all proper like you citizens of this fairytale land are!"_ She declared, acting like fairytales were a plague to be avoided at all costs, as a silently laughing Evil Queen shooed the three children along.

 _"You've got the right voice for it."_ Apple had persisted kindly, grabbing onto both the hands of the Evil Queen and her new witch friend, trying to soothe over whatever wrong that she had committed with Briar who was glaring at Apple from the other side of her foster mother. _"And the words sound right too, you sure sound like you are from around here."_

 _"That's my fault I'm afraid."_ The evil Queen had chuckled. _"I used to go to school here you know, so all the long words and the accent got transferred to my kids, I'm sure that you learned how to speak so politely from your parents too kiddo. Am I correct?"_

Apple had puffed out her little chest in pride. _"My mom is the fairest of them all! Of course I'd learn to be just like her!"_

 _"Oh I'll bet she is. I can tell by the way that you walk and talk that your mother is very fair and had taught her daughter well to become just like a fair princess…"_ The Evil Queen trailed off, looking past the trees to the clearing separating the forest from the village. _"Oh! Er… be quiet kids it's the queen and her people up ahead, I don't think that she'd like being disturbed by a family of witch-"_

 _"Mom!"_ Apple had cheered and ran towards her mother, who had noticed that Apple had disappeared a few minutes prior and was beginning to get worried as she looked around for her child.

Things had happened very fast after that, Snow White had caught a glimpse of the Evil Queen, recognized her, and started to run past Apple and towards the witch even as said witch and her family hastily made a quick retreat in a swirl of purple magic.

Apple put the last finishing touch onto her float and sat down gloomily over the side of the platform.

She had never told her mother about the cave, the ancient paintings, or the purple handkerchief she had still been in possession of with a curly _R_ embroidered into it with silver colored thread, didn't have the chance to get much out aside from admitting that she fell down a well and that the Evil Queen and her daughter had helped her to get out, plus the fact that the Evil Queen still thought that Snow White was the fairest of them all and super awesome because Snow White had looked so very scary at that moment and Apple wanted to make her mother stop looking at her like that... which did work, kind of, Snow White stopped looking scary but she had ended up crying instead.

As time moved on and all the adults were going into a frenzy of excitement Apple decided that maybe keeping the cave a secret would be for the best, it was special after all, it was the place where Apple had met the most perfect villain in existence for her story, even though the witch didn't seem to believe that she'd make a good match for one. She was a person so perfect that Apple just couldn't see anybody else that she'd trust more to give her the proper happy ending that… she might not get if it wasn't done right.

"Oooh glad that you're thinking about the most important part of the story." Faybelle jeered as the fairy walked by, breaking Apple out of her thoughts."Although instead of an apple I was thinking… maybe I'd try to poison you with toxic smoke from a lit candlestick, you know to give a little variety to the boring old story eh?" The Fairy waggled her brows as she continued on to her own float, which sported an evil looking mirror, a cauldron with toy children trying to crawl out of it, a spinning wheel, and a big plump _papaya_ skewered upon the overly large needle of said spinning wheel.

Apple saw red.

"Don't even count on it Faybelle Thorn! The only villain I'm going to allow myself to be poisoned by is the daughter of the real and true Evil Queen!" Apple shot up to her feet as she roared after the fairy.

"Don't count on it princess!" Faybelle cackled in merry delight, every inch of the fairy's swaggering gait indicating that she had every bit of confidence in her words.

"We'll just see about that." Apple growled lowly, glaring furiously at the hated papaya fruit.

XXX

The items in Milton's pocket felt like heavy weights needing to be gotten rid of, and he would have earlier while the students were distracted and if his secretary was able to open the box! He needed to buy some time and he needed the students to believe that maybe Miss Thorn was not the right one to hold so many fairytale roles!

"You having some difficulties there Headmaster?" Faybelle deadpanned politely.

Said man startled, his fingers slipping from the lit of the stone box he had been attempting to open out of frustration more than out of necessity now that his plan had been foiled.

"Miss Thorn… I can see that your mother left you… prepared…" The man glowered down at the professional looking tall black chief's hat sitting innocently on the fairy's head, the new charmed fur lined wool woven black caplet with silver embroidery and an attached small scrying crystal ball charm caged elegantly with metal wire being used as the clasp at the stiff collar, and…

The Headmaster's scowl deepened. "Where did you get that?" He demanded darkly, pointing to the spellbook under the girl's arm, the same spellbook that used to belong to Clawstorm Queen when she was in school, he knew that it was filled with notes, ideas, and of course, spells of both the witch's own creation and of spells that would be the most useful for an up and coming Evil Queen.

 _She had showed so much promise and dedication, what went wrong?_

Faybelle looked down at the book, blinking in false confusion. "My box where my mother had left it for me."

"You know what I mean Miss Thorn." The Headmaster glared.

Faybelle sighed a put upon sigh. "The people in charge of the Breadhouse and Queen estates couldn't hold on to everything for more than five years so my mother took the liberty to store all of her late classmate's belonging, _may their souls rest in peace_ , and while she was looking through it all she came across some things that I'd need when I got to this point in my education." She cast the Headmaster a jaundiced look. "My mother did get legal permission from the surviving family or the estate holders for everything sir. There is a stack of legal files back in my box proving that it is such if you really want to go that far."

There was a bladed edge hidden within the wounded tone and look in the girl's eyes, Milton could sense it, could see that through the girl's quick glance away from him that she was pointing out the wide, sympathetic looks pointed her way and the looks of annoyed distain directed at him. There were many students at his school who were contemplating very seriously to defect from the fairytales and an even larger population of their parents who were either encouraging their children to do so or were currently breaking ties themselves or both! The rate of divorce/ separation/childlessness/out-and-out abandonment of long-term fairytale duties, amongst the alumni of the school was increasing alarmingly the longer the Evil Queen was sighted but not caught.

It was all very unexpected for him, the first few years after Clawstorm Queen and some of her graduating class had disappeared the number of fairytale characters who had been growing a bit lax in their interpretations of the stories suddenly became very strict about everything… more fairytales began to disappear here and there and fears were running higher and higher for nearly half a decade, but when it was discovered that the Evil Queen was in fact alive and well… the situation began to slowly but surely reverse itself, almost as if there were a driving force behind it all.

Milton had enough accumulated allies to know the rumors, of characters led by Evil Queen who had elected to banish themselves in order to either avoid story obligation or to keep their children from having to go through a fairytale, that somewhere right under his nose sympathizers to Clawstorm Queen were quietly converting to new and dangerous ideas but no matter where or how hard he searched he just could not find the source to all of this!

And then there was the issue of Faybelle Thorn and her mother. He didn't know the extent to their involvement in all of this, and he despaired being able to prove anything if he dared to leap to conclusions, but they seemed to be thriving on all of this madness! The Evil Fairy not only profited greatly from some key characters disappearing but she also gained allies in places that simply did not make sense to him, he had little doubts that she knew more about what happened to the real Evil Queen than what she was letting on, but between her own spies in the school and her daughter doing her utmost to encourage and gain sympathy from the rebellion faction in both the school and in the alumni he had soon found that any attempts on his part to keep things under tight control were slowly but surely being slipped away from his grasp.

He glanced around for a brief moment at all the unattended boxes in the Hall of the Ancestors that were supposed to have students, the next generation of stories, standing in front of them, opening them up and receiving the gifts from their parents, watched over by the stained glass figures of their origin ancestors.

When his gaze came to that of the original Evil Queen his fingers found a firm grip on the Queen family's designated box and tugged fruitlessly at it, trying to get it to open.

"Very well miss Thorn, go back to your box and wait for the rest of your class to finish with theirs." The man gritted out as politely as he could but to his embarrassment the girl had already been halfway across the hall, making him, the Headmaster of the school, feel as though a superior had just dismissed him!

"It's empty." Miss White's disappointed voice drifted to Milton's hearing, she was holding the lid to Pinocchio's box. "This makes the third one, I don't understand it Ashlynn, why are some empty while others are shut so tight that they won't open? It has to mean something right?"

"The _older_ ones are sealed shut Apple." Miss Ella pointed out gently. "I'm sorry but I don't want you to get your hopes up only to be disappointed again, and… I can't help but notice that it's only the boxes with people who were the first to disappear that are sealed shut, meaning that it's most likely that as time moves on…" Miss Ella trailed off.

There was an awful silence from the blonde princess.

"Does that mean… that when the box is sealed… that it's too late for them?" She whispered in horror.

"Or it just could be that they've been able to officially break free from the Book of Legends." Miss Cheshire snorted while rolling her eyes. "Come on Apple, unlike you, the Book of Legends can't afford to hold out hope that future heirs will magically appear to take up the torch, it has to find new characters to play the roles, it needs to adapt before our generation and all the generations coming in behind us become of age. Most likely the Book and this place has realized the true facts of the situation: the Evil Queen is never coming back, Clawstorm Queen has moved on from fairytales for good and will not be back to willingly turn back the clock to old times."

"No… no it can't be!" Miss White shook her head in grief. "It has to be her, my-my real true villain has to be-"

"Me princess." Miss Thorn sounded annoyed. "Your real true villain is me, whether you want it to be or not."

Except Milton knew that characters didn't just disappear if they refused to be apart of their story, they had to go somewhere…

He felt the underside of the stone lid more carefully, if he paid clos attention then maybe… yes! There it was, a small bump that was not stone!

Miss White sounded panicked as he took the opportunity at everyone's distraction to look under the edge of where the lid met the box. "But it can't be! I don't want-"

"Well too bad!" Miss Thorn snapped. "Or Too good as this situation may turn out to be, after all what kind of future queen would you make if you got accustomed to everything just being provided for you and everyone and everything being forced to bend to your will all because you whined and cried and acted like such a spoiled brat? Having one or two things that don't go your way will only be the best for you. Starting with our story, which will by the way have elements that no one will expect coming and will be something that people will talk about for generations if I do say so myself. It is my job now to bring more culture appropriate elements to this seeing as how it is going to be my family that will take up the responsibilities of three separate stories from now on!"

Glue! Milton internally rejoiced because there was a bead of dried glue here! Somebody had come by at some point and glued this box shut!

Now the question was why? And more importantly; where they trying to hide something? Maybe? Surely they didn't just glue the box shut to make it seem like they were dead, after all an empty box would have sufficed surely!

Oh he had missed something because Miss Thorn was stalking away angrily and Miss White was in tears, oh dear, and he could hear murmurings about the young fairy "having a point" and "what is Apple's problem anyway? Faybelle is just trying to do her best and here Apple goes being so mean about it all" from many of the other students.

Oh dear, it would seem that he'd be subjected to yet another call from the queen, really he did not know how the woman knew when her daughter was having difficulties being liked by the other students but it seemed as though whenever Miss White stumbled either himself or the girl's teachers would be getting a call from the "concerned parent" in question and… well it was not Milton's place to be critical of the fairest of them all, especially where her parenting skilled came into play.

His secretary would have to field that call anyway, because tonight Milton was going to take a more investigative look into what the glued shut boxes were hiding…


	6. We want delicious food!

"Come on slowpokes! Turtles are faster than you two!" Cerise Hooded Wolf laughed as she and her sister Ramona blurred to and fro around the Grimmbook siblings while they walked across the park.

"Yeah, you can read Cupid's letter later! It's not often that Ginger and auntie Cherrie come all the way up from New Goreleans and we were promised food!" Ramona grinned, dreamily remembering the feast of rich southern food they got to eat everyday for two weeks from the last time Ginger and her mother had come up for their biannual visit with the rest of the refugees.

It was sort of like a weird kinda-sorta-not-really-but-very-close-to-it family gathering type thing that happened every fall and spring for two to three weeks all of the fairytale refugees and their allies would meet up somewhere convenient just to check in on each other and reaffirm that they weren't the only ones in this strange but intriguing new world. Those unable to make it made sure to physically check in with the nearest refugee sometime before or after the gathering just so that everyone could breathe a little easier because they all just felt safer in numbers and always having somebody knowing what you are up to so that the whole group could rally together if somebody from the old homelands tried to drag them back.

That was the main common fear that lurked in all of them; it was so universal that they all understood when somebody either _got_ an odd call late at night or _made_ an odd call late at night just to fend off the lingering darkness of a familiar nightmare.

"Briar's the one with the letter." Raven tattled, wanting to eat some delicious home cooked New Goreleans food too.

"In a second!" Briar batted them all away with her hand irritably. "Cupid sounds concerned for Faybelle. She says that Fay is havin' trouble gainin' the respect that she deserves for all of her hard work at school."

Ramona halted for a moment in front of the group before starting to walk backwards, her eyes narrowed. "Are you sure that's the reason and not because, oh I don't know, the fact that Fay can't go two seconds without baiting people? I mean she's good to us because we encourage her and give her all sorts of ideas-"

"And feed her!" Cerise butted in from the back, her hands resting woefully on her empty stomach. "She's probably already back at the penthouse eating all of the food Ginger puts in front of her while we are taking forever to get back to home base from school!"

"-And we've known her since forever, she part of our pack and all, but she can get pretty snarly towards others you know? Kitty says that she likes to bat the emotions of her fairytale counterparts around like a kitten with a ball of yarn, she is utterly feared by the traditionalists you know." Ramona finished. "I'm not saying that she deserves it but you have to admit that she's not at all good with playing nice, nice with people she sees as idiots… which would be her current fairytale counterparts."

"She really doesn't think much of her current charges." Raven hummed in agreement. "How do you suppose we should go about cheering her up this time? That is if she really is as upset as Chariclo says she is... It wouldn't surprise me if Fay is just yanking Chariclo's chain just so that she can get away with lots of stuff while Chariclo is around…" The witch narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Just how much batting around does Fay do to those people by perchance?"

"Probably enough that she's not winning any favors with anyone save for the rebellion group." Briar snorted lowly, picking up her pace. "However we should still do whatever we can to completely support her, it's no good to be constantly told that she's not good enough for her efforts just because she's not a witch! She is totally qualified to do her job properly and we are going to be there to cheer her on all the way! Besides, mama-witch and auntie Cherrie will always have something for her to use to combat the nay-sayers and us reminding her that we're proud of her and that we have her back will help her out surely."

"Your accent's slipping little miss lovebird." Cerise pointed out dryly.

Briar grimaced, wiping at her mouth as if she tasted something bad. "'M ain't a lovebird, I just… care ya know? It's 'cause of her that they ain't lookin' for us as hard as they would have if there was no one there to complete those story roles."

"Which is why we love her and will do everything to assure her that none of us are thinking about taking over her hard won roles and that we actually want to see her succeed in all of this." Cerise nodded, giving Raven a side-eyed look.

Raven nodded, thinking frantically, more than a few times when things were particularly rough for Faybelle over the accusations that she wasn't good enough she nearly, but never quite, got to the point to where she resented Raven almost enough to let the ugly feeling manifest as truth in her mind… or so Raven thought if the occasional dark glares directed her way were to be interpreted as such. Aside from Briar, Raven did her _very_ conscious best to periodically show a hundred and ten percent approval for Faybelle's work.

"…I think that old psychology book from last year might help her out a bit." Raven bit her thumb nervously. "I mean Fay would like fresh perspectives on how to manipulate people right? I mean it was a special class design to help us break out of bad habits and learn confidence skills for like, future job interviews so… she can probably reverse engineer some things right?"

"We can run it by mama-witch and Evil-mother as well as Fay while we're at home." Briar proposed, still trying to properly put her words into the right accent. "They'll have some interestin' twists to put on them psych lessons I'm sure, an' Fay hangs offa their every word when they're talkin' fairytale shop 'n stuff anyway so we've got her covered for at least this week."

"I almost feel pity for that Snow White girl, if she keeps messing with Fay as much as she currently is she's going to get the craziest fairytale of her life." Cerise mused scratching her exposed wolf ears as everyone made noises in agreement.

"Do you think that she'd let us watch?" Briar asked sounding morbidly excited at the prospect. "Maybe we'd be able to sneak in some popcorn too!"

That got her a round of giggles as the group began thinking up of ways that they could sneak into Ever After to watch the show when the time came."

XXX

Three seal boxes, three of his first students who went missing that year…

Three copies of the Book of Legends.

Three perfect, incredibly well made, to the point to where not even he could discern the difference between them at the moment, forgeries!

"How can this possibly be?" Milton Grimm murmured in horror, the beam of his torch scouring from cover to cover, page to page, looking at the tomes in disbelief.

The light was low in the hall, it was a new moon and thus too dark for him to see the odd white lines painted on the underside fragments of the now destroyed boxes, so dark that the vaporous creatures slithering out of said boxes and into the night looked just like any other spindly shadows crisscrossing the hall.

XXX

"So this reverse psychology business is the act of tricking the target into saying or doing exactly what you suspect or want them to do or say?" Faybelle asked in interest.

"Mmm, ideally that's what happens but like I said before psychology isn't an exact science." Clawstorm warned while she flicked through the pages in Raven's old textbook. One of the things that Clawstorm never really got the hang of was cooking anything edible past really simple quick meals and dishes so that was why she was banished to sitting at the kitchen counter, _being good_ , and not attempting to help out with preparing dinner like the rest of the house. "Snow White was pretty simple in the head when it came to her desires so your mother and I… well Evy mostly, were usually able to put one up on old Snowball whenever she got too annoying. It all depends on how well you can read your counterparts really, otherwise they'll either catch on or they'll take things to somewhere completely unexpected."

"If memory serves me correctly lil' Miss Cherrie had the most difficulties with her counterparts." The Evil Fairy paused in her task of chopping up all the vegetables (she was able to magically operate several knives at once, and therefore the task was completed in seconds rather than minutes) in order to leer playfully at the dark skinned witch manning the boiling cauldrons and oven.

"Like I've told you and Faybelle before, the Crumb family were always… very special people with very special views on the world." Cherrie Cook (formerly Breadhouse before she got married to her restaurant's second head chef and co-owner, a sweet yet very tall and muscular zombie by the name of Bubba Cook) appeared to be choosing her words politely and carefully.

"It takes very special people to think that inbreeding is a good idea." The Evil Fairy rolled her eyes, sharing an exasperated look with her daughter who mirrored her mother's expression, as she handed the cooking witch a plate of minced onions.

"Mama always said that it was not our place to judge." Cherrie explained pointedly to a grimacing Faybelle while levitating the mutilated plants into a pot. "Though I did try to do my best with my villain duties and do my utmost to dissuade the twin's… well that's just a rumor anyways and I tried at the very least. I'd like to think that they didn't…" She winced.

"Just like your mama tried and her mama before that." Clawstorm intoned tiredly, patting Faybelle on the back while sharing a dry look with Briar, who already had a low opinion of fairytale royalty and _did not look surprised in the least_ to hear this new information!

"I'm sure that it really is just a rumor Auntie." Faybelle assured kindly. "The Crumb cousins aren't… like that with each other. Though they aren't exactly capable, it would seem, of comprehending the difference between reality and story but neither does the traditionalists so they're pretty normal all things considered." Faybelle shrugged, trying to attempt to be as polite as was possible for her.

Cherrie cast a quick glance at Faybelle before returning to her pots with a sigh. "Well nothing has changed on that front, just make sure to have those special earmuffs I gave you last year on hand, I used to get the most debilitating migraines from the Crumbs and everybody screaming so loudly every time I entered a room outside of classes."

"Oh don't worry auntie the rebellious group is rather too fond of me to dare do that when I'm in the room and the Crumbs have gotten to the point to where I smile kindly and they don't scream loudly at all." Because after Faybelle was done with them they were now too scared to make any sudden movements or sounds after the first few times and Faybelle got sick of the constant wailing every time she made her presence known. "What they lack in brains they make up for in instinct and learning proper manners. I don't even have to pull anything on them to keep my image up, I could say good morning to them and for the rest of the day they will go on to everybody and anybody and tell them that I tried to bewitch them into the school ovens."

Which was actually true nowadays, but to get to this point Faybelle did have to do a little bit of passive aggressive terrorizing on the younger boy and girl, they had originally loudly sided with Apple on the fairy being of the wrong bloodline to be their villain, but they had been pretty weak when the blonde princess wasn't around…

So Faybelle being as cool-headed as possible under the circumstances may have silently creeped them out by coming up to Hansel with a tape measure and commented on his scrawny frame, carried around magazines filled with ads for kitchen supplies and industrial ovens, transporting their sweets away and replacing them with vegetables because "fairies prefer the meat of their pray lean", slipping natural history books on her particular species' prehistoric roots talking about fairies back when they were ravenous meat-eating hunters into their school bags, …and after one particularly frustrating week (when Apple had been attempting to rally up all the supporters that she could to "stop Faybelle and the rebellion's reign of terror") both Crumbs woke up to find that someone had spelled black lines onto their bodies with different labeled parts, the same kind used by butchers on livestock to be more precise.

Finally, after a month and a half of Faybelle doing all of this (along with just randomly standing just behind the two Crumbs with her fanged teeth slightly parted and sniffing the younger teens whilst making inhuman noises of deep and concentrated consideration) the Crumb cousins finally caved and told Apple that if their real villain was supposed to be better than Faybelle at being a villain… they'd rather not be unfortunate enough to have to meet her.

Gus Crumb in particular still got a little pale and lightheaded whenever the term " _rocky mountain_ " came up or when there were " _oysters_ " on the school lunch menu, and he'd more often than not just give up the fight to stay conscious if Faybelle casually mentioned a native dish from the mountainous parts of her homeland that were called "rocky mountain oysters" and how they could be made from many different prey animals…

Many males who knew what she was talking about either got really nervous (the traditionalist mostly) or were like Hunter who jovially reminisced about his sheep and cow herding cousins in the far hills and, if Faybelle was having a particularly difficult day with Apple and the others, offered to give her his aunt's recipes.

Bless that boy, she really hoped that he and Ashlynn worked out, they would make excellent additions to the refugee crowd.

"Lack in brains?" Raven asked, she had been standing meekly off to the side just to make sure that she telegraphed to Faybelle that she'd never be a threat to the fairy's roles… just in case it needed to me made silently clear, finally gave up in that pursuit in favor of indulging her curiosity on the topic of conversation. "Do they suffer from a disability or are they something like that Apple girl? All hung up on bloodlines like villains are cattle only to be used for happy endings?"

Faybelle gifted Raven with a tired smile and slung her arm companionably around the witch, because even though it was frustrating at times that people would prefer Raven over her, the witch however was far too nice for all that evil nonsense and she understood Faybelle and the frustration she had with not being recognized properly as a true villain in a way that was very comforting.

The Evil Fairy cast her daughter a conspiring smirk. "Eli and Nibble Crumb, also known as Faybelle's current charge's great-grandfather and great-grandmother… slash great-uncle and great-aunt, slash…

"Grandfather, Hansel-Eli-Crumb was also my counterpart's father and the current Crumb sibling's grandfather." Cherrie tasted the gumbo before adding a little more spices to the pot.

"…Whatever else, anyway, after their story was finished they went through a… what was that term again Clawstorm?"

"A life-crisis Evy, we call it a life-crisis in this dimension." Clawstorm hummed distractedly, still paging through the textbook. "So they joined that cult."

"Which isn't unheard of for fairytale characters who have finished their stories only to come out finding that their roles were utterly useless to them in the post-fairytale world… the crisis part, not the cult although the two being combined together is not always unheard of." The Evil Fairy mused. "But at any rate there was this crazy guy in a diaper-"

"Loin cloth." Cherrie corrected.

"-Who said that genetic purity was the way to go if you wanted to be better than everybody else-"

"We call it eugenics here, nasty business, and it's not even credible science!" Clawstorm hissed in avid disgust, sitting beside her (sneaking bits of food) Ramona and Cerise looked a little nauseated too (especially since the history classes distinctly said that most experiments in the bad old days used to be conducted on those of the canine race).

"-So from right under everybody's noses Eli and Nibble had a child together named Danish Crumb, who was the next Hansel but due to complications Nibble was unable to have anymore children so a year or so later Eli had… "acquired-"…"

"Brainwashed and converted the daft girl." Cherrie stated darkly.

"-A child with his cousin, who had birthed Dish Crumb-"

"And stole the babe away to be raised in that awful place before my gran could properly cook him and the daft mother alive." Cherrie gently motioned for Ginger to trade her places so that she could properly smash the potatoes in her daughter's place. "Tried to go to the Headmaster at the time for help but he didn't believe a word my gran and great-gran said and going public about it would have complicated the lives of the chillun.

"-Fortunately Danish was able to break free from the cult's brainwashing and ran to the Breadhouse's as fast as his legs could carry him while he was in high school-"

"Took great care of great-uncle Dan we did, what with his bad eyesight and thin blood problems. Made him practically apart of the family" Cherrie huffed fondly.

"He was great in the garden." Clawstorm piped up, smiling softly at the memory of the half-blind man who taught her and her friend more about herbs and plants than the classes in school ever did. "He could tell where he was in his garden through smell and touch of his plants as well as the sounds from all of these different wind-chimes, it was amazing!"

"-However Dish wasn't so lucky, by the age of sixteen she was-"

"Forced." Clawstorm growled darkly.

"-To birth Tasty and Yummy Crumb, your aunt Cherrie's counterparts-"

"Finally forced the current Headmaster's pa to believe gran and great-gran and finally do something! The thick headed fool…" There was a snort of agreement from the two other women in the room.

"-And things were much better for a while, course Tasty and Yummy were so genetically insufficient in the brains that they ended up being held back constantly until they finally managed to eek their way into our graduating class." The Evil Fairy finished in favor of accepting a bowl of gumbo from Ginger.

"But Tasty and Yummy had children together?" Briar blinked.

"It's just a rumor." Cherrie insisted. "And besides that, they were taught far better once the correct people found out and rounded the children up, they may have hated me with as much force as their… unique minds would allow, but they knew that if I had suspected anything bad happening to either of them that I'd come and investigate and do everything I could for them."

"Which is why they tried so hard to keep you and your family at a distance." Clawstorm bit into her spoonful of gumbo menacingly. "They were weird and volatile, and I'm not just talking about their wonky genetics making them that way Cherrie. You deserved to be treated far better than how they treated you."

"It wasn't their fault that they couldn't understand that I wasn't really going to eat them." Said witch giggled and hugged her daughter around the shoulders. "Oh how Hansel used to complain that he was going to have to stay in that cardboard box forever because he wasn't fattening up at all! Really dear, I know that you and Simone never liked them but I just can't seem to feel any ill will towards two people who were simply incapable of… well a lot of things really and I do owe them for introducing me to my baby girl's birth father, without whom I would have never met my most favorite daughter!"

"I'm your only daughter mama." Ginger giggled, patting her mother's swollen belly.

Clawstorm leaned forwards with wide eyes. "Does that mean that your gonna have a little voodoo warlock running around in a few months Cher?"

The other witch's grin almost seemed to light up the room. "Bubba and I were thinking about naming him Trapper after that character in his and Ginger's favorite New Goreleans folktale."

"Trapper Cook." The Evil Fairy chuckled. "It's got a ring to it I must say."

"An' Fay, don't you worry your head about that girl Apple White." The pregnant witch turned the conversation back to the topic at hand. "You've more than proven yourself to be a mighty fine villain and you've got the support of lots of people, if the White's give you grief over you being apart of the story then just do what your mom did and do what you're gonna do anyway, with fairytale villains in the middle of a story they do pretty much what they want to do, it's one of the benefits that comes with the job description, you are allowed to go through with crazy stuff and not ask for permission or apology later when it's all said and done."

Clawstorm smirked and ruffled Faybelle's hair, like she always did ever since the fairy was a small child. "They're never going to see it coming as long as you're around to make it interesting for them."

"Well of course." Faybelle sniffed superiorly through her wicked grin. "Can't come back here and tell you lot that I just went out and poisoned some blonde girl with a boring old apple or got pushed into an oven by some little girl now can I? That story is not nearly exiting enough."

"You always tell the best stories Fay." Briar grinned coming up beside Faybelle and her little sister and hugging them both from behind.

"Only because I have such a lovely audience to tell stories to." Faybelle's expression was just barely this side of sappy as she glanced at the blushing and grinning human behind her.

XXX

"Alright men! You ready to face down those giants?" Coach Ginger Bread Man barked to the bookball team.

"Yes we are sir!" Daring Charming cheered even as his teammates all shook their heads in the negative, Tiny the giant wiggled his toes worriedly.

"Well I suppose that's just as good as we're going to expect this year." The coach sighed tiredly. "Hit the showers boys, enjoy the rest of your day."

When the team reached the locker-room Daring halted in his steps, hesitating.

"We are going to feel the pain come tomorrow aren't we?" He asked the air speculatively.

"I keep telling you that we need your sister on the team." Hunter pointed out tensely.

"No." Daring commanded firmly, both he and Dexter shaking their heads.

"She's got more training with dealing with large magical creatures! And she's being trained in that special inter-school program with Wonderlandian knights! Everybody knows that you have to be made out of crazy tough stuff to be accepted into that kind of training and community!" Sparrow was the one to gripe this time. "We need her!"

"But what if she gets hurt?" Daring countered with a worried whimper, his body hunched over in horror with all the imagined possibilities.

"It's not that we don't think that she's good enough." Dexter quickly assured. "But guys, she's our baby sister! You can't ask us to willingly put her into harm's way!"

"It seems almost like yesterday when she first came up to me and dad holding out her very first junior training sword and challenging us to a duel for the right to fighting along side us for the family honor and glory in battle!" Daring hiccupped tearing up. "She was so cute~! A true Charming for sure!"

"But aren't Charming princesses supposed to-…?" Sparrow tried to finish his statement by executing a pretty impressive curtsy and fanning himself with his hand.

"Every family branch has a different interpretation on what is proper." Tiny informed cheerfully.

"And it's not like the Headmaster is going to just stand for letting her or any other girl play on the field." Hunter blew out a breath noisily. "Maybe we should stay in through the whole game-"

"No you can't." Daring shook his head, wiping away tears as he turned to face the group. "My auntie is counting on you and Sparrow to keep an eye on things while they sort out what's wrong with the Book! Faybelle is already super twitchy right now because she's worried that Apple might find out that the Book is a… different edition than what she really wants. I'm just worried that Fay might try something off kilter if she and Apple have another fight."

"And at the very least you two will be spared from the beating of a lifetime, Ashlynn will be happy about that, and I know that Sparrow here is already happy." Dexter pointed out.

"Yep." Sparrow nodded, then paused, thinking. "Does the first edition of the Book really have everything Apple wants outta life?"

"No." Daring sighed, shaking his head. "It doesn't have what anybody wants or expects actually, auntie showed us when we were small and I had asked."

"So it's true? You really aren't Apple's prince just like you keep telling her you aren't?" Hunter asked with wide eyes.

Daring sighed, shifting his stance but nodded. "My kiss can't awaken anybody." He confirmed. "We're thinking that either Darling or Dexter can but if neither of them can do it then either Faybelle or auntie will be forced to step in."

It had been a sore point between Daring and Apple and their two families since they had been very small and it became evident that Daring was becoming the type of prodigy that all future princes would look up to for years to come.

Snow White had come to Daring's family, very insistent that Daring was to become her daughter's future husband, in her mind Apple should have nothing but perfection and Daring was very good at being very close to perfection as far as princes went, and since Apple always wanted what her mother wanted the princess wasted no time practically shouting to the rooftops that Daring was her future prince.

…Except Daring knew for a fact that he wasn't her prince… wasn't anybody's prince really, auntie Clawstorm had taken a risk coming to Ever After all those years ago in order to warn his parents about who… _what_ their son was to become as he got older. Since the witch was an old friend and ally to his parents and Clawstorm was turning herself into a very competent mad scientist they turned to her to aid and prepare their son for what was to come.

Daring became very grateful for his adopted aunt's training and the special medicine that she had developed when he had first transformed the night after he turned nine-years-old.

Daring resigned himself to living a life of bachelorhood until his parents sent him off to some really prestigious university in his auntie's dimension, he didn't want to leave his home kingdom and his aunt was adamant that given enough effort and luck that she and her colleagues might be able to create a special pill for him to take every month to quell the transformations outside of his own will, and that was very kind of her, especially for the times she had to sneak into his kingdom in order to give him a proper checkup and packages of clothing that were not only stylish but spelled to fit him even when he changed shape, but with no princess born with the right kind of magic meant that there was no cure for him and therefore he needed to mentally prepare for moving away to the strange lands where his aunt and adopted cousins resided in the hope that he could find acceptance for what he was there.

"Well good luck." Hunter told the two Charming brothers and Tiny.

"You're going to need it." Sparrow nodded, which earned him a yelp of pain as Hunter loyally stomped onto his foot.

Daring smiled, a fang just barely showing under his lips. "We'll at least give those giants a good long fight." He promised; he could almost feel the beast within him wagging its tale at the prospect of a proper challenge for once.


End file.
